Leading member of OccupayGhana, Ace Ankomah has charged parliamentarians to prove their commitment to the course of Ghana by acting swiftly to ensure the passage of the Right To Information (RTI) Bill.
Mr. Ankomah says the House must attach the same importance to the RTI Bill as it did to the controversial military pact between Ghana and the US governments leading to its ratification on the last day of sitting before it rose for the Easter break.
“Seeing how you people can pass loan agreements and your end of service benefits, we are counting the days,” the private legal practitioner, declared Saturday, on Newsfile on JoyNews TV.
The government on Friday, March 23, laid the RTI Bill in Parliament before the House rose for its Easter break in fulfillment of President Akufo-Addo’s Independence Day promise. Speaker, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye subsequently referred the Bill to the committees on Legal and Constitutional Affairs as well as Communication for deliberations.
That was the third time the Bill has entered the House since it was first drafted some 22 years ago under the auspices of the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) and yet never got passed into law.
The RTI, when passed, is expected to help the Special Prosecutor, the media and civil societies to uncover issues of corruption in the public sector.
Mr. Ace Ankomah who is also Managing Partner at Bentsi-Enchill, Letsa & Ankomah pressed on the members on the Legal and Constitutional Affairs as well as Communication committees use the Easter break to work on the Bill instead of easing up.
His argument is based on the fact that this is not the first time that the bill has hit parliament.
“It hit parliament twice already and nothing happened!”
In 2016, the bill came close to being passed by Parliament after the National Democratic Congress (NDC) lost in both the Parliamentary and Presidential elections.
Majority Leader, Mensah-Bonsu
The then minority New Patriotic Party (NPP), however, raised concerns as to how the NDC was making key national decisions after it lost the elections. Majority Leader, Mr Mensah Bonsu, who was then the leader of the minority, promised a walk out of he and his members, should the NDC attempt to pass the bill in that state.
“I think that parliament owes it to this country to make sure that the committees sit during Easter…don’t go home,” Ace Ankomah beseeched the MPs.
Abdul Malik Kweku Baako
Veteran journalist, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako, who is also the Managing Editor of the New Crusading Guide newspaper, blamed the inability of the previous parliament to pass the bill into law in 2016, on the minority caucus who are now in the majority.
“Let’s hope that today that they have are the majority, they could get their minority colleagues together and by consensus pass such a critical anti-corruption legislation,” Mr. Baako told the host of the programme, Samson Lardy Anyenini.
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