General News of Monday, 25 March 2019
Source: starrfm.com.gh
2019-03-25
Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah
Government is commencing preparatory work ahead of the passage of the Right to Information Bill which is expected to be passed in Parliament this week.
The 7th Parliament of the 4th republic has in good time completed the consideration stage of the RTI bill after several policy changes and amendments and months of rigorous debates on the floor of the house.
Currently there are further new petitions asking for further amendments to provisions of the bill. However Parliament is minded to pass the bill into law this week, and send it for Presidential assent soon thereafter.
Minister for Information Kojo Oppong Nkrumah told Journalists in Accra that the bill in its current form requires the establishment of Information Units in all public offices, recruitment and training of information officers to man these units, establishment of the RTI commission and the completion of various administrative protocols before the commencement of the next fiscal year.
“These are necessary to ensure that there will indeed be the infrastructure that can deliver on the RTI requests filed under this new law” he said.
He said the new law will be a major addition to the credential of Ghana as a strong democracy and President Akufo-Addo who for many years has championed the cause of enhancing the frontiers of human rights.
The Minister disclosed that government through the Ministry of Information, which will be the implementing ministry, has already commenced engagements in preparation of a roadmap for implementation.
“We ask all who have followed the entire process to join in heralding the final passage and to cooperate with us in its implementation” he added.
