The Member of Parliament for Mampong in the Ashanti region, Kweku Ampratwum-Sarpong has said he is not comfortable with the eventual passage of the Right to Information Bill.
He said if passed into law, the media in Ghana will see it as a safe haven and a refuge to abuse the purpose and its diligent usage. The Mampong MP added that, members of the inky fraternity in Ghana extremely act beyond the confinement of their daily duties, and passing the RTI bill into law will be tantamount to arming the media with a sophisticated weapon to haunt decent Ghanaians.
Kweku Ampratwum-Sarpong expressed his lack of interest for the RTI bill to be passed into law during a live interview with Kofi Marfo, known in broadcasting as Sir Richie, on a London based Ghanaian radio station ,Hot digital radio on Sunday.
The right to information is a fundamental human right guaranteed by the country’s 1992 Constitution and recognized as a right under International Conventions on Human rights. The bill will give substance to Article 21 (1) (f) of the Constitution which states that “All persons shall have the right to information subject to such qualifications and laws as are necessary in a democratic society”.
The bill was drafted in 1999 and reviewed in 2003, 2005 and 2007 but was not presented to Parliament until 2010.
During the latter part of 2018, Majority Leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah- Bonsu, gave the assurance that the House would pass the RTI Bill into law before it rises in December, 2018 which was again frustrated by Members of Parliament.
It is believed around 30 to 50 MP’s out of the 275 show interest in the RTI bill.
Source: Hotdigital online radio
