RTI bill to become law this week

The Right to Information bill will be passed tomorrow, Tuesday, March 26, 2019.

Majority Leader Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu told the House last week the Minister sponsoring the bill has indicated his intention to take the bill through a second reading stage.

It is expected that this new phase of consideration will incorporate fresh proposals from CSOs.

Speaker of Parliament Prof Mike Oquaye ordered the removal of the Right to Information bill from the House’s order paper last week Thursday.

The order was necessitated by demands by Civil Society Organisations for some amendments to be effected before the passage of the bill into law.

The RTI Coalition has presented some proposals to be incorporated into the bill before passage.

Announcing the directive, the Speaker said “We are duty bound to listen to other view points on this matter.”

The Speaker’s directive came barely 24hours after the Majority Leader and Minister for Parliamentary Affairs disclosed the Bill will be passed into law on Friday March 22.

The RTI

The RTI bill was laid before Parliament by the Deputy Attorney General Joseph Kpemka Dindiok in March this year.

It has been 22 years since the first RTI bill was drafted under the auspices of the Institute of Economic Affairs, IEA and 16 years since the Executive arm of government in 2002 drafted the first RTI bill.

The draft Executive Bill was subsequently reviewed in 2003, 2005 and 2007 but was never laid in Parliament until February 5, 2010.