C'ttee kicks against provision in RTI Bill

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• Mahmoud 10 years ago

  Appointment of the Judiciary is similar to that of the EC chairperson. The constitution does not give the president authority over the selection of this class of people in the system because; they are expected to be independe ...
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  Appointment of the Judiciary is similar to that of the EC chairperson. The constitution does not give the president authority over the selection of this class of people in the system because; they are expected to be independent and impartial in discharge of their duties. If the president were to have substantive powers in their selection and appointment, that would ultimately compromise the independence and impartiality that is required of them implicitly or explicitly. They are not in the category of his ministers or those in the executive branch where he has complete hire and fire powers under the constitution, and are not expected to be independent of the president's decisions. Also, they leave office when the president leaves but the judiciary and the EC chairperson will remain after the president's term of office expires.
  
  The issue is not the president being subservient to the judiciary or the council of state as some are trying to portray; the measures put in place are critical checks and balances to prevent the executive from dominating the other branches of government in the system, which if allowed to happen by given him substantive powers to appoint and fire them, the situation could easily metamorphose into autocracy now or in the future. For instance, who will impeach or judge the president if he over steps his constitutional powers or commits a crime? It will definitely be the judiciary. And who will act as a referee between him and other political players during elections? It will surely be the EC. So the president cannot be allowed under the constitution to substantively appoint them.

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• Asea Ho 10 years ago

  The passing of this bill is long over due. Ayariga makes sense. KT is afraid because the drill ship saga is not dead yet. We need more information.

  The passing of this bill is long over due. Ayariga makes sense. KT is afraid because the drill ship saga is not dead yet. We need more information.

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• Mensah Abrampa 10 years ago

  There's absolutely no reason to keep the right to information bill stalled in parliament for about 10 years without passing it into law. Nothing is perfect in this imperfect world of ours so the legislators are making mere e ...
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  There's absolutely no reason to keep the right to information bill stalled in parliament for about 10 years without passing it into law. Nothing is perfect in this imperfect world of ours so the legislators are making mere excuses in a case of a simple dereliction of duty because of their personal interests.
  Our constitution was severely flawed from day one but that did not prevent its passage into law in 1992. To date the constitution has not seen any amendents but our world has not come to a standstill. It's a deliberate attempt by the sleazy, lazy and corrupt politicians to hold the RTI Bill hostage in parliament for their own selfish interests. If I were the President, I'd make public the names of legislators from both sides of the political aisle who keep stalling the passage of this all important bill into law and inform their constituents and Ghanaians they constitute a threat to the welfare of Ghanaians. How long do we need to wait for the perfect law? Forever? As far as many of these parliamentarians are concerned there will never be a RTI law in our lawbooks for as long as remain our legislators. The President must act quickly and out smart these hoggish lawmakers if he wants to be remembered for anything good or positive.

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