Your Gentle Assent To The Rti Bill Brings Hope To Activists

Dear Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo Addo..........
Words cannot obviously express any form of gratitude to you in person for your assent to the Right to Information Act which was passed by the seventh parliament of the Republic of Ghana. The seventh parliament ought to be commended for such work. The only appreciation would be the efficient and effective activation of the Bill in demanding accountability from public office holders in building a strong tool for our democratic governance in line with probity as enshrined in the PREAMBLE of the constitution of Ghana.

Mr President, some of us who do not have "short memory" remember your pledge to the good people of Ghana in 2016 which was to the effect that, your tenure as president would see to it that,the bill gets the necessary consideration it deserves for passage. Your two years in office has seen the passage of this wonderful bill into law. Subsequent to this, when the bill got to your table, you assented to it that very day.

The era where people are compelled to go to court to exercise their fundamental right to information as encapsulated in Article 21(1)(f) of the 1992 constitution of the Republic of Ghana can now be buried once and for all. It also goes to underscore the fact that,no citizen would, therefore, be subjected to hustle and tussle when (s)he wants to have access to contract documents and any further information which borders on public interest.

Mr President, by your assent to the bill, you have given every citizen of this country the avenue to subject your governance to critical scrutiny concerning the management of public funds and the efficient utilization of same. It is also quite intriguing and interesting to note that, your predecessor who is staging a come back only wanted to pass the bill in a hurry after seventh January 2016 when the good people of Ghana overwhelmingly rejected his candidature due to his monumental ineptitude and his taste for corruption.

Mr president, your strong disapproval when it comes to corruption has been demonstrated in a manner which cannot be refuted by any given stretch of mischief and propaganda. The office of the special prosecutor whose name send shivers down the spine of corrupt officials was established under your tenure as president. Interestingly, your political opponent whose name is captured on item thirteen of the OSP's list of cases currently receiving attention for investigation and prosecution has gone into hidding with his noise of" investigate me if I am corrupt" as a challenge to your government to subject him to investigation to back or disapprove claims of his tainted corrupt personality.

Today we have seen the difference, the claims that all politicians are the same cannot be ascertained. Some are honest and others are very dishonest. Your political opponent is a classic example of DISHONESTY. The effective utilization of the Whistle Blowers Act,2006(Act 720), The Right to Information Act,2019 as well as the office of the special prosecutors Act 2018(Act 959) would indeed help in the strenuous fight against corruption.

#Ayekoo to you Mr president#
Dawda Eric(Equity)
Citizen Vigilance for Justice
23rd May,2019
[email protected]