Parliament fails to pass RTI Bill despite Mahama’s plea

Parliament has failed to pass the Right to Information Bill, despite an appeal by President John Mahama for the House to do so before its dissolution on the Midnight of January 7, 2017.

President John Dramani Mahama in his last State of the Nation address on Thursday had pleaded with the House to consider passing the Bill into law.

But the Majority leader, Alban Bagbin, in his final address on the floor of the house before dissolution, said it is rather unfortunate that the House could not pass the bill which he described as very important.
Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbinplay
Alban Bagbin

“It is important to mention that, the House, unfortunately, could not pass certain important bills that were submitted to the house. I say it was unfortunate because of their likely impact on the rights to freedoms of very important segments of our society and also the impact on our drive as a country to combat corruption,” Mr Bagbin said.
The general public will have legal access to information such as government documents, data, reports, and so on, once the bill is passed.

The Right to Information Coalition has often expressed disappointment in government for failing to ensure the passage of the Bill.
As it stands now, the Bill would not have to be brought back to the new Parliament by the incoming government.

Other key bills the house failed to pass were the Plant Breeders Bill and Intestate Succession Bill. Others were the Properties rights of Spouses bill, Lotto and lotteries bill, Interception of postal packets and communication messages bill, Narcotics Control Commission bill and Statistics bill.

However, Mr Bagbin indicated that the House passed some 75 bills into law and 66 instruments.
“This year alone, the house passed 21 bills including the Maritime Pollution bill, Revenue administration bill, Bank of Ghana amendment bill, Local government bill, security industry bill and Ghana deposit protection bill,” he said.