Civil Society to sue Parliament over RTI Bill

The Coalition of the Right to Information and advocacy group pushing for the prompt passage of the Right to Information (RTI) Bill have threatened to consider a court action against the currently Parliament should it fail to pass the Bill this time session.

Various speakers at a forum to commemorate the 2017 Right to Know Day have taken a swipe at successive parliaments and governments for their lack of commitment despite the numerous benefits it stands to offer to the populace if passed into law.

A steering Committee member of the coalition, George Osei-Bimpeh said the group would be left with no option than to resort to the Supreme to compel the Legislature to do the right thing if the Bill gets to it without action.

He noted however that, the Executive Arm of government is currently the focal point for the coalition which he said must ensure that the Bill is introduce to parliament first.

‘’If the Bill is sent to parliament and we see that no urgent action is being taken, we will resort to the law court, Supreme court precisely’’ he said.

According to them until the Bill is passed into law and access to information made easily available to the public, the citizenry will continue to be short-changed by the powers that be.

The Regional Coordinator for the COMMONWEALTH HUMAN RIGHT INITIATIVE, Ms Mina Mensah said the economic cost of the continuous delay in the passage of the RTI Bill cannot be quantified.

She also urged government and Parliament to exercise political will towards to the passage of the Bill.

A representative of the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), Beauty Emefa urged the Auditor General to public the number of public servants who have declared their assets to engender public confidence.

The event was attended by Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, Youth group Association, Send -Ghana, CDD Ghana, Academia, Ghana Integrity Initiative, European Union, the Trades Union Congress among others.

Source: Christian Kpesese