Advocates calls for the intensification of education on RTI

By Naa
Shormei Odonkor, GNA
    

Koforidua (E/R), October 15, GNA – Panellists
in focus group discussions on the Right to Information (RTI) Bill had called
for the intensification of education on the Bill to get people to demand the
passage of it into law.

The panellists observed that people are not
making mass demand on the law makers to pass the bill because they have not
been educated to know that the mass unemployment, poverty and denial of social
services by duty bearers were the results of their denial of specific
information which they require to overcome those social challenges facing them.

The group called on the media, civil society
organizations and activists on the RTI to raise the tempo of their campaign and
public education to get people to appreciate the effect of their being denied
information on their personal development and the progress of the country.

The group regretted that the, passage of the
RTI bill into law had been reduced to a political campaign tool by the major
political parties in the country since developments after elections proved that
the political parties are not serious in seeing the bill passed into law.

The focus group discussion was organized by
the Eastern Regional branch of the Right to Information Coalition at Koforidua
with support from the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) office in
Africa.

Ms Mina Mensah, Head of Africa Office of CHRI
in a remark explained that the current RTI bill before Parliament had seen a
lot of amendments, but still had some clauses which need to be amended to
ensure that the bill when passed into law becomes beneficial to the people.

She explained that if those clauses are not
amended, they would render the bill useless.

She cited the case of clause 13 of the bill
which she said in practice means almost all documents in the public service
will become exempt information.

Ms Mensah called for the deletion of clause 13
from the bill and other clauses which could deny the people access to
information.

Mr Gladstone Tetteh, the Executive Director of
Cencord- Odumase Krobo urged the media and the civil society organizations to
make the agenda for passing the RTI bill into law visible just like they did to
get the Galamsey agenda to get the political and social attention   needed.   

GNA

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