{"id":602876,"date":"2019-03-28T03:54:13","date_gmt":"2019-03-28T03:54:13","guid":{"rendered":"
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A Right to Information (RTI) campaigner has dismissed suggestions that the credibility of the RTI law has been dented because it will be shepherded by the Information Ministry.<\/span><\/p>\n

Samuel Obeng, a member of the Steering Committee of the Media Coalition on RTI, described the concern as \u201cmuch ado about nothing,\u201d explaining that there were more important issues about the newly passed law.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, said Wednesday that the new law faced a\u00a0<\/b><\/span>major<\/span><\/span><\/b> policy credibility issue <\/b>because of the last minute decision to make the Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the supervising minister of the law instead of the Attorney-General, Gloria Akuffo.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said because the RTI law was promulgated to fight white-collar corruption, the Attorney-General was best suited to shepherd the law.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mr Iddrisu called the decision a bad move.<\/span><\/p>\n

Related:\u00a0<\/b><\/span>Parliament passes RTI Bill <\/b><\/p>\n

However, speaking on PM Express <\/b>on Wednesday, Samuel Obeng said that concern does not even feature among the issues that Civil Society Organisations see as relevant for the effective implementation of the law.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI must say that it is not one of the things that we even considered as a Coalition. My personal view is that the Minority Leader\u2019s call is best described as much ado about nothing,\u201d he said on the nightly current affairs programme on Joy News, a MultiTV channel.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cIt was explained that Cabinet had actually had a meeting on the matter and Cabinet had decided that it be shifted for policy purposes from the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice to the Ministry of Information Ministry and\u2026this done when the definition for Minister\u2026[to mean] Minister responsible for Information\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn the bill, there are times when the report of the [Right to Information] Commission must be presented to Parliament\u2026in Parliament, the Right to Information Commissioner cannot come and present a report; who stands in to <\/span>present<\/span><\/span> the report for him or her? The minister responsible for information,\u201d he explained.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said the designation of a Minster to shepherd the law is only for administrative purposes in Parliament, suggesting that another\u00a0minister could have been given a supervisory role.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mr Obeng said per his reading of the law, the supervisory role granted the minister responsible for information does not give the minister the mandate to interfere\u00a0in the work of the RTI Commission.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

Photo: Ben Abdallah<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n

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Agreeing with the views expressed by Samuel Obeng, the Chairperson of Parliament\u2019s Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee, Ben Abdallah, also\u00a0said on the show that RTI Commission\u2019s work will not be influenced by the shepherding ministry.<\/span><\/p>\n

He\u00a0said the RTI Commission, in essence, will hold the true supervisory role of the RTI law because it will be an independent body with the important role of championing the right to information among Ghanaians.<\/span><\/p>\n

Watch more from the discussion in the video below.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n