By D.I.
Laary, GNA
Wa, July 20, GNA – An investigator at the
Upper West Regional Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice
(CHRAJ) has called for swift passage of Ghana’s Right to Information Bill into
law to enhance public recordkeeping.
An information law would enhance probity and
accountability as well as facilitate proper recordkeeping in the country’s
public sector to boost efficiency in administrative procedures, Mr Sebastian K.
Zem, the Regional Deputy Chief Investigator at CHRAJ said on Thursday.
Mr Azem was making a presentation on the RTI
action campaign in Wa where several stakeholders including journalists,
traditional authorities, women groups, Persons with Disabilities and assembly
members among others attended.
SEND-Ghana organised the programme being
implemented by the Accountable Democratic Institutions and Systems
Strengthening Consortium and the RTI Coalition with funding support from the
USAID.
The investigator said when the RTI Bill is
passed into law, it would present a powerful tool for citizens to demand and
secure social justice and equal rights, a move that would add up to Ghana’s
democratic credentials.
“Democratic governance cannot function
properly without an informed citizen who political office holders are
accountable to,” he added.
He expressed worry about poor recordkeeping
mostly in Ghana’s public sector which stakeholders believe serve as the
breeding point for corrupt practices in the country.
“When we are able to pass this law it will
enhance probity and openness in financial accountability and social justice –
equal rights to opportunities,” he said adding: “Public officials cannot be
arbitrary and capricious in exercising their discretionary powers”.
He said the inefficiencies in the public sector
owing to bad recordkeeping would be reduced to the barest minimum and save the
country enormous financial resources for more development projects.
Mr Azem said: “The public must be educated to
promote the passage of the RTI bill into law and also monitor compliance with
the law once it is passed”.
He defended the public call for quicker
passage of the Information bill, saying, “The push for the passage of the bill
is not being done in a vacuum and there are grounds for this”.
He quoted extensively the 1948 Universal
Declaration of Human Rights which guarantees the right to expression as well as
the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights to back the urgent call on
lawmakers to pass the law.
“The rights are not given by our presidents or
chiefs or parliamentarians or pastors or leaders, they are inalienable rights,”
he said.
Mr Ibrahim Saani, a participant at the
workshop and president of the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations,
told the Ghana News Agency that: “We have to pass the Information bill to
enhance information access in all sectors or institutions.”
He said if the bill was passed it would allow
people to have legitimate access to public information.
GNA