After stating on an international platform that he’s unaware about the whereabouts of the Right to information Bill, President John Mahama has said he cannot force Parliament to pass the 10-year old Bill into law.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the Presidential encounters organized by the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) on Wednesday, President Mahama said he cannot force Parliament to pass the Bill into law.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t force them [Parliament] to pass it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”8ryL5FheenEZ310S6Hfz1WmyDJQNCMxY”]The Bill, which has been in and out of Parliament for over a decade, is yet to be passed, despite its enormous benefits in enhancing access to information in the country.<\/p>\n
President Mahama at the encounter noted that \u201conce you present a Bill to Parliament, it becomes a property of Parliament. I am in the executive.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the Bill after its presentation to Parliament, was placed before a committee adding that \u201cthey said they will go round the country, they\u2019ve gone round the country, they said they need more stakeholder consultations, I don\u2019t know where it is now.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have separation of powers, parliament is autonomous, I can\u2019t force them to pass it; but I have been advocating for it that they should pass the Bill. It\u2019s been too long, in the state of the nation addresses, I\u2019ve referred to that Bill, and I\u2019ve indicated that I don\u2019t know why it has taken too long in Parliament.”<\/p>\n
The President further noted that, he thought the Bill would be passed before the dissolution of the current Parliament, but it seems that was not the case.<\/p>\n
“We thought it was going to be passed in the last parliament, but I don\u2019t know what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
I’m not scared of RTI Bill<\/strong><\/p>\n President Mahama also noted that, he is not scared of the passage of the Bill because he has nothing to hide.<\/p>\n \u201cI can live with that Bill; my government has nothing to hide and I believe that transparency would help us.\u201d<\/p>\n I don’t know where RTI bill is<\/strong><\/p>\n President Mahama had about two months ago, told the international community that he doesn’t know<\/strong><\/a><\/span> where the RTI Bill is.<\/p>\n He has since been slammed<\/strong><\/a><\/span> by some civil society organisations for making that\u00a0claim.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n By: Godwin A. Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
\nFollow @AlloteyGodwin<\/a>
\n