Ghana's Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon. Edward Doe Adjaho, the former Minister for Information and Media Relations, Hon. Mahama Ayariga, and some members of the Committee on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs have stated that majority of Ghanaians are not interested in having a law on the Right to Information (RTI).
But the RTI Coalition, Ghana has debunked their stance, saying that an RTI Act would benefit all Ghanaians, including the Executive and Legislature. Rt Hon. Adjaho, Hon. Ayariga and the Parliamentary Committee members made various statements to the effect that ordinary Ghanaians were not clamouring for the RTI Bill to be passed because it was not their priority when members of the RTI Coalition accompanied the African Union (AU) Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, Ms Pansy Tlakula, to visit them in Accra last week.
At an interactive session in Accra last Wednesday between Ms Tlakula, and a representative of the Peoples National Convention (PNC), some civil society organisations (CSOs) and the media, the AU Rapporteur and some members of the RTI Coalition revealed that during their meetings with the Speaker, the Minister and the Committee members, their refrain was: “The people don't want the RTI law.”
Addressing stakeholders at the session, Ms Tlakula made it clear that a “Freedom of Information law is for everyone, and not for journalists alone.” She stated that she and members of the RTI Coalition were able to get commitments from the Speaker and members of Parliamentary Committee that the RTI Bill would be passed before the expiration of the current term of Parliament in 2016.
“There is a commitment to pass the Bill in this term. And also there are contentious issues to be resolved,” she said. She said access to information promotes accountability and transparency, adding that the real work of ensuring effective implementation of the RTI law lay with the Coalition. She said 13 African countries have laws on freedom of information (FOI).
Giving the current status of the RTI Bill, Ms Mina Mensah, Co-ordinator of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative Africa Office, said the Coalition met the Parliamentary Committee recently and the Coalition was informed that the Bill had been sent to the Attorney-General's Department for further amendments that would incorporate its proposals. Ms Mensah was glad that the Committee was amenable to the suggestions of the Coalition. She was hopeful that the AU Model Law on Freedom of Information presented to members of the Committee and the Executive would be taken in consideration when the RTI Bill was passed.
Presenting the experience of South Africa on the implementation of its FOI law, Professor Frans Viljoen of the Centre for Human Rights of University of Pretoria said that country was the first to have the law but its implementation faced several challenges. The challenges, Prof. Viljoen said, included the non-designation of information officers; low level of awareness by the governmental departments; and lack of up-to-date record-keeping. Initiatives being taken, he noted, were preparation and dissemination of training manuals; holding of trainers' workshops; law clinics; and the institution of the Golden Key awards for entities.
Sharing lessons Nigeria learnt in the implementation of its FOI law, Mr Maxwell Kadiri, a lawyer and free expression consultant, urged the Coalition to soldier on with the advocacy campaign for the RTI Bill to be passed despite being at it for about 10 years. Mr Kadiri said civil society activists took 18 years to get the Nigerian government to pass the law. He revealed that the FOI law was now beneficial to the politicians who initially opposed its passage.
“FIO law is also beneficial to political parties and the PDP [Peoples Democratic Party] boast of FOI as one of its achievements. Six countries in West Africa have FOI laws. Ghana cannot be seen to be rolling back the tide. Ghana must have a law that is robust and progressive,” he declared.
