Government not responsible for delay in passing RTI Bill – MP

The Member of Parliament for Ho West Constituency, Emmanuel Bedzrah has laid the blame for the failure in passing the Right to Information (RTI) bill at the doorsteps of Parliament.

According to him, Parliament has the prerogative to make laws and they have the control to decide which laws are passed and which are not.

Speaking on GH One TV's morning show ‘GH Today’ Friday, the NDC lawmaker cited the inability of Parliament to pass the Constitutional Amendment as one of Parliament’s show of power. He implied that if the RTI bill is still not passed Parliament should take the fault for that and the Executive should not be drawn into that discussion.

“We believe that we make the rules, we are masters of our own rules and we can do whatever we have to do. Look at what happened recently when were supposed to move the Constitutional Amendment, Parliament decided that we will not move it,” Emmanuel Bedzrah opined on Hard Talk with hosts Kafui Dey and Baisiwa Dowuona-Hammond.

He continued: “So it means that Parliament can take decisions to agree or disagree on certain things. So it is not about the Executive. So I’m saying that if Parliament wants to pass it [RTI] today, they will pass it today. So for me we should hold Parliament responsible.”

Honorable Bedzrah insisted that the Executive should be absolved from any blame whatsoever when it comes to the inability to pass the RTI bill. He said in his opinion the President has demonstrated his commitment to the passage of the bill and the onus is on Parliament to move it.

“A lot of people will put the blame on the Executive behind the scene that they are twisting the hands of Parliament but on this occasion I want to say no. The executive does not have a hand in it. Because the President has made commitment in the US when we went for OGP-International Open Government Partnership meeting and he said to the whole world that this time round, the Executive has finished their work, they have given it to Parliament, the legislature to pass the bill. And Parliament is now the rightful owner of the RTI bill.”