Ghana’s RTI law one of the best in the world – Bagbin

The Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has described the Right to Information Law which was passed Tuesday night as one of the best in the world.

"Honourable members the RTI has gone through the third reading and is hereby duly passed. This law is one of the best ever passed in any part of the world,” he declared in Parliament immediately after the passage of the law.

The bill was relayed before Parliament in March last year by the Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice Joseph Kpemka Dindiok after the previous parliament, the sixth of the fourth republic failed to pass it into law.

It had been over two decades since it was first drafted under the auspices of the Institute of Economic Affairs, IEA and more than a decade since the Executive arm of government in 2002 drafted the first RTI bill.

The much-anticipated bill was to be passed into law on Friday 22 March but was removed from the House’s order paper or programme line on Thursday 21 March by the Speaker of Parliament Prof Mike Oquaye after demands by Civil Society Organisations for their proposals to be incorporated into the bill before it is passed.

The bill was relayed before Parliament in March last year by the Deputy Attorney General and Minister of Justice Joseph Kpemka Dindiok after the previous parliament, the sixth of the fourth republic failed to pass it into law.

It had been over two decades since it was first drafted under the auspices of the Institute of Economic Affairs, IEA and more than a decade since the Executive arm of government in 2002 drafted the first RTI bill.

The much-anticipated bill was to be passed into law on Friday 22 March but was removed from the House’s order paper or programme line on Thursday 21 March by the Speaker of Parliament Prof Mike Oquaye after demands by Civil Society Organisations for their proposals to be incorporated into the bill before it is passed.