Right To Information Bill Has Suffered Setbacks – President Mahama

President John Mahama has indicated that the passage of the Right to Information has suffered some setbacks because of lack of consensus.

According to him, “Ghana has probably the highest saturation; we have aside from the Constitution put in the legislation to guarantee freedom of information and access to information. I must say unfortunately it will go down in history as the legislation that has stayed the longest in Parliament. Cabinet approved it, we submitted it to Parliament; I don’t know where it is.”
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President Mahama speaking on peace, justice and strong institutions specifically elaborated on the role of the media and access to information promoting peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development. He further stated that, “unfortunately, it [the bill] will go down in history as the legislation that has stayed the longest in Parliament.”

The Coalition on the Right to Information (RTI), Ghana criticised President Mahama for not pushing hard enough to ensure the passage of the right to information bill.
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According to the Coalition, Mahama and his government have not shown much commitment to pushing the bill.

But President Mahama noted that: “It has been at the committee level, the committee decided to go around the country and consult on the Freedom of Information bill. Some say it is too liberal; some say it is too tight, and it should be made more liberal and so Parliament is still working on it. It was submitted to Parliament in the term of the last president, and it has continued in my term, and I believe that it is something that we should complete and make available so that people will have a legal basis for demanding information if there is a reluctance to give the information to them.”