Gov't erred in assigning the RTI bill to the Info Ministry- Haruna Iddrisu

Evans Annang

March 27, 2019 3:08 PM

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Haruna Iddrisu has disclosed that the newly passed Right to Information Bill (RTI) will be reduced to propaganda.

Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Employment and Labour Relations

He said this is because of the decision by government to use the Ministry of Information as the supervisory agency.

Mr Iddrisu noted that the appropriate body to have supervised the implementation of the law is the Attorney General’s Department because it has been entrusted with the mandate, by law, to fight corruption and economic crime in the country.

“The right to information is in governance and corruption, what we call sunshine legislation. But I believe that the government has already lost it", he said on Accra based Class FM.

“Lost it because the shepherding minister has been reduced to the Ministry of Information. RTI is not about propaganda, it is about the right to access information to aid and expose decisions that the executive, parliament and others will take."

“The Attorney General because the mandate to combat corruption [and] economic criminality rests on the shoulders of the Attorney General.”

Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu Pulse Ghana

The Bill was finally passed after its third reading on Tuesday, March 26, 2019. What is left is for President Nana Akufo-Addo to give it presidential assent to be fully recognized as law.

The RTI Bill had been in and out of parliament for almost two decades. Civil Society and the media have been very instrumental in the passed of the Bill into law.