BIA hails Cabinet approval of RTI Bill

The Bureau for Internal Affairs, (BIA), a centre for information gathering, has hailed Cabinet’s approval for the passage of Right to Information (RTI) Bill, describing it as very propitious to boost good governance.

The organisation said the passage of the RTI Bill would also facilitate rapid realisation of a sound national economic policy.

A statement issued by Mr Mohammed Frimpong, Executive Secretary of BIA in Accra, expressed the need for Ghana to direct “governance by the will and knowledge of the people through information gathering and sharing, to encourage economic and social development on the dictate of the 1992 Constitution”.

Cabinet has forwarded the RTI Bill to Parliament for consideration and its subsequent passage into law.

The Bill seeks to promote greater transparency and accountability in the utilisation of state resources.

The Bill has been on the drawing board for more than 10 years prompting agitations from civil society groups, the media and other stakeholders for it to be passed into law.

Mr Frimpong said the government should encourage public participation in the performance of their constitutional duties instead of limiting such roles to state institutions and arms of government.

As the wielders of the sovereignty of the nation, there is the need for the people to get a platform to relate directly or to be part of matters of governance and development.

Mr Frimpong said BIA intends to provide the wheels for active participation of the populace in information gathering and sharing as it affects governance and national development.

“To actualise participatory democracy as the cornerstone of the 1992 Constitution in pursuit of state policy of probity and accountability at this stage of our constitutional development, it behoves the populace to create information bureau in every nook and cranny of the society.

“So far, the role of workers in information gathering and sharing in the constitutional dispensation leaves much to be desired by the prevalence of alleged corruption and wanton dissipation of public funds,” he said.

Mr Frimpong said: “clearly any level of economic deprivation of the people is a serious setback to our onward march to higher national productivity”.

He said it is not surprising that Ghana is experiencing national economic slowdown, culminating in sequence of low investment, low revenue and falling standard of living.

BIA is an anti-corruption organisation and also serves as a centre for information gathering on public concerns with the aim of bridging the communication gap between the public and the authorities and the authorities on issues negatively affecting the nation.