{"id":252948,"date":"2016-09-28T15:35:23","date_gmt":"2016-09-28T15:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=252948"},"modified":"2016-09-28T15:35:23","modified_gmt":"2016-09-28T15:35:23","slug":"mahamas-frustration-over-rti-bill-hypocritical-minority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/09\/mahamas-frustration-over-rti-bill-hypocritical-minority\/","title":{"rendered":"Mahama\u2019s frustration over RTI Bill hypocritical \u2013 Minority"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Minority Spokesperson on Constitutional, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Joe Osei Owusu, has described John Mahama\u2019s claims of frustration about the delay in passage of the Right to Information Bill as “hypocritical.”<\/p>\n

According to him, the Bill has delayed because it is not a priority for the government.<\/p>\n

\u201c…When the president says he is frustrated, I know the president also knows that anytime\u00a0the executive considers something a priority, it gets done so if it were their priority, it would have been done. This public expression of\u00a0frustration \u00a0for me is rather hypocritical,\u201d he said in a Citi News<\/strong> interview.<\/p>\n

President Mahama while speaking at UNESCO\u2019s International Programme for Development of Communication talks in France, said Parliament is yet to pass<\/strong><\/a><\/span> the Bill, which was drafted about a decade ago.<\/p>\n

The Bill seeks to make access to public information easier.<\/p>\n

\u201cGhana has probably the highest saturation; we have aside from the Constitution put in the legislation to guarantee freedom of information and access to information.\u00a0 I must say unfortunately it will go down in history as the legislation that has stayed the longest in Parliament. Cabinet approved it, we submitted it to Parliament, I don\u2019t know where it is,\u201d the President noted.<\/p>\n

But Osei-Owusu, who is also the Member of Parliament for the Bekwai constituency, said if President Mahama wants to pass the Bill, he knows who to start from.<\/p>\n

\"Joe
Joe Osei-Owusu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201c\u2026after this Bill, much more voluminous bills have been passed. It came, they did it day by day till late;\u00a0 new income tax amendment bill, new taxing Bill, they were all done, when a government places a priority on it, it gets done. He [President Mahama] knows that the people who determine the business of the house are people on his side so if he truly is frustrated he knows who to talk to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Group slams Mahama for delaying passage of RTI Bill\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Right to Information Coalition on Monday said they were disappointment<\/strong><\/a><\/span> in Mahama\u2019s leadership for failing to ensure the passage of the Bill.<\/p>\n

According to the Coalition, \u201cPresident Mahama has not demonstrated strong commitment to the passage of the RTI Bill, despite his party\u2019s promises in their 2008 and 2012 manifestos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coalition to hold demo<\/strong><\/p>\n

The coalition has also threatened\u00a0stage a demonstration<\/strong><\/a><\/span>\u00a0against the delay in passing the Bill.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

By: Godwin A. Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
\nFollow @AlloteyGodwin<\/a>
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