Mina Mensah, Regional Coordinator of Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and member of the Coalition on the Right to Information, has expressed concerns over the state of the Right to Information Bill (RTI).
Speaking on Joy News am Show on Multi TV, she observed that after 13 years of processes to get legal backing for the right to information, the country has failed to pass it into law.
For Mina Mensah, promises by the current government to see the bill through must be taken with pinch of salt.
She said: “I am cautious because this is not the first time the bill has gone to parliament especially when we do not know what the bill contains.”
According to her, attempts by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative to get access to the contents of the bill have proved futile for the past two years.
“The old bill has a lot of issues but we do not know whether it has been improved… and there is so much secrecy surrounding it.”
Meanwhile Murtala Mohammed, Deputy Minister of Information, has debunked the notion that government was deliberately delaying the passage of the bill saying once it is tabled by the Attorney General’s Department, expedited action will be taken for its passage.