Expedite action on RTI Bill - AG to Parliament

The Attorney General’s Department has asked Parliament to expeditiously work on the Right to Information Bill currently before the house.

According to the Deputy Attorney General, Dr. Dominic Ayine, the Bill has been reworked, leaving it with only thirty two amendments that makes for easy perusal and passing by Parliament.

There has been pressure on Parliament to pass the Bill which is expected to grant citizens greater access to public information.

Dr. Dominic Ayine in an interview with Citi News said, Members of Parliament can still propose amendments to the Bill in parliament.

“Because of the urgency with which parliament and of course the executive wants to pass the Bill, the strategy that we adopted was to withdraw the Bill and incorporate the numerous amendments that had been discussed and agreed upon by consensus in the house,” he said.

Dr. Ayine, who is also the Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga, said “Members are still at liberty to exercise their right and propose amendments on the floor, but we are hoping that the 32 amendments will be the ones that will be considered by the house in an expeditious manner so that the Right to Information Bill can be passed into law.”

He added that, although the AG has not called for the Bill to be debated under a certificate of urgency, it is impressing upon the house to do so due to the high public interest.

“We haven’t proposed that it should come under a certificate of urgency, but the Attorney General has impressed upon parliament that it is urgent that we pass the Bill,” he noted.

He said that the Attorney General is taking the urgent steps ensure that Parliament passes the Bill before it rises on Thursday 3rd November, 2016.

‘Coalition threaten demo over Right to Information Bill’

The Right to Information Coalition, had earlier threatened to stage a protest to against government over the delay in the passage of the Bill.

The Coalition said they sought to impress upon the Mahama-led government to expedite action on the passage.

President Mahama at a UNESCO program in France last month, said he is frustrated at the continuous delay in the passage of the Bill.

But the Executive Director for POS Foundation, Jonathan Osei-Owusu, described as unfortunate President Mahama’s claims he does not know the current stage of the Bill.