New Juaben MP calls for neutral body to handle RTI

Koforidua, Oct 31, GNA - The Member of Parliament (MP) for New Juaben South, Ms Beatrice Bernice Boateng, has called for a neutral body to handle the Right To Information (RTI) bill to ensure that it was devoid of politics.

She said considering the fact that the Attorney General (A-G), who had been scheduled to handle the bill for it to become law, was a chief legal advisor to the President of Ghana, it would create conflict of interest in the administration of such law.

The MP, who was speaking at a meeting with some members of the Eastern Regional Coalition on RTI, in Koforidua, said neutrality and transparency in the administration of the law must be paramount.

According to Ms Boateng, it was natural that the A-G being a member of the Government of the day could withhold some information from the public in the interest of the Government and that would not ensure the full benefit of the law for the public to have access to information.

She expressed worry about the fee structure of the bill, which she noted looked as if information would be sold, and wondered how a deprived community would go through all the processes involving money to get information that would be crucial to their survival under the law.

Ms Boateng assured the Coalition that the bill would be scrutinized and their concerns would be raised on the floor of Parliament to ensure that the right thing was done.

Mr Edmund Quaynor, the Regional chairman of the Coalition, observed that the bill was drafted somewhere in 2003 and had been to Parliament on three occasion but it had been withdrawn due to inconsistencies.

He said the Coalition had raised of concerns about the bill to ensure that it would be beneficial to the development agenda of the country if passed into law.

Mr Quaynor expressed the hope that MPs would critically address all the concerns raised about in the bill before it becomes law.

GNA