<<Print>>

Parliament today completed the consideration stage of the Right to Information ( RTI ) Bill by dealing with the only outstanding proposed amendment which had been suggested by Hon Frederick Opare Ansah MP for Suhum.

Hon Opare Ansah had proposed that  the provisions of section 18 and other consequential sections of the bill should  come into force 12 months from the date on which this Act is assented to by the President.

However, the Majority Leader and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs suggested that the proposed amendment by Hon Opare Ansah should be amended to read as "the bill shall come into force at the beginning of the next financial year" which was accepted by the House.

The bill will now be taken through  the third reading stage to be passed into law.

The Minority Whip and MP for Asawase said the Minority had no objection to the proposed amendment by Hon Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu as that is the position of government which has the mandate to implement the Act when the bill is passed into law.

Commenting on the completion of the consideration stage of the bill, Hon Ben Abdullah Banda Chairman of the Committee on Constitution, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs said the Committee has received other proposals from the public for further amendments to the bill, which are yet to be considered by the Committee.

It has been more than 22 years since the first Right to Information RTI Bill was drafted under the auspices of the Institute of Economic Affairs, IEA.

Also, it has been more than 16 years since the Executive arm of government in 2002 drafted the first RTI Bill. The draft Executive Bill was subsequently reviewed in 2003, 2005 and 2007 but was never laid in Parliament until February 5, 2010.


Journalists have lead a stern campaign to get the Right to Information (RTI) Bill passed into law