Swiftly sign RTI bill as you promised – Coalition to Akufo-Addo

The Coalition on the Right to Information (RTI) Ghana, Media Coalition on RTI and OccupyGhana have called on President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to quickly approve the Right to Information law which was passed by Parliament Tuesday evening.

The groups in a press statement also asked government to put all the needed measures in place to ensure the law becomes operational by January 2020.

During his recent state of the nation address, the president assured that “I will happily assent to it as soon as it’s brought to my table”, a promise the Coalition is reminding him to keep.

“Now that the Bill has been passed, we expect that President Akufo-Addo will assent to it swiftly just as he promised in his last address to Parliament on the State of the Nation. We are hopeful that government will put in place all needed processes to ensure that the new law commences operation at the start of the next financial year, which is January 2020.”

Parliament finally passed the RTI Bill Tuesday, 26th March 2019, several years after it was first laid before the house.

The Bill was passed following the completion of its consideration stage after several policy changes, amendments and months of rigorous debates on the Floor of the House.

Reacting to the passage of the bill, the Coalition expressed disappointment in parliament’s failure to “consider a few final amendments we proposed which goes to the heart of the Bill, especially the ‘timeframe for putting in place the necessary structure for effective implementation’”.

They were however hopeful that some of their concerns will be addressed in the Regulations which will come later to operationalize the law.