President John Dramani Mahama has watered down the relevance of the Right to Information Act, saying its passage will not transform Ghana\u2019s media landscape in any dramatic manner.<\/p>\n
The President believes the absence of the RTI Act in Ghana does not change what he refers to as the \u201cvery vibrant media landscape\u201d Ghana\u00a0enjoys.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Ghana,\u00a0there are many guarantees of free speech and independent media. One of the best is chapter 12 of our constitution that guarantees a free and independent media.\u00a0I don\u2019t think that the Right to Information Bill would transform Ghana\u2019s independent media landscape in any dramatic manner. We have that freedom already, our people have absolutely no problem expressing themselves in the media and so the freedom of expression bill will only \u00a0enhance freedoms that we have already” the President stated.<\/p>\n
President Mahama believes that although the RTI Bill has not been passed yet, Ghanaians are satisfied with the freedom they have in expressing \u00a0themselves.<\/p>\n
The Right to Information Bill allows citizens have access to\u00a0information being held by a government agency to promote transparency and accountability.<\/p>\n
The proposed law, if passed, is also expected to help make access to information held by state institutions easier.<\/p>\n
The Bill was drafted sometime in 2002 and has been taken through over a decade of campaigning and several reviews.<\/p>\n
Speaking in an interview on the Conflict Zone and the New Arab Debates with Tim Sebastian , the President explained that the Bill had not yet been passed because \u201cthere has not been consensus on what the scope of exemptions\u201d on the bill should be.<\/p>\n
He was however quick to add that Parliament will soon pass the bill after a series of negotiations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am sure Parliament will pass it before the life of this Parliament is over and when it is done, the media and researchers and anybody who wants to take advantage of it will do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
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By: Marian Efe Ansah\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
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