RTI Bill will be passed before the year ends – Haruna Iddrisu

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, has assured that the long-awaited Right to Information (RTI) bill will be passed before the year ends.

He said, “Let me assure you that we remain committed to passing a sunshine legislation that helps you the media to fight corruption to combat economic crime and to hold us responsible for our excess and abuse. I have cautioned against watering down the impact of an RTI in the name of exemption and that is where we are.”

He added that, “There is absolute and unwavering commitment by Parliament and its leadership to ensure that the right to Information bill becomes law we will work more diligently and assiduously to get it passed.”

The Tamale South MP said these when he met journalists in Parliament today.

Media Coalition on the Right to Information together with civil society groups including OccupyGhana begun a street advocacy against the delay by parliament in passing the RTI today.

Haruna Iddrisu emphasized that: “We need to be diligent about this. Let’s have a good law passed and not a law that exempt groups of information. We should get it passed before the end of the year”.

Minority leader Haruna Iddrisu

The RTI bill is a fundamental human right guaranteed by the country’s 1992 Constitution and recognised as a right under International Conventions on Human rights.

The Bill as it has been drafted is to give substance to Article 21 (1) (f) of the Constitution which states that “All persons shall have the right to information subject to such qualifications and laws as are necessary for a democratic society.”