IN SECONDING the motion for the adoption of the report on human rights, MR EDWARD AMEYIBOR (Journalists’ Association) also called attention to “a provision which is very important and unique to our 1992 Constitution, namely, the RIGHT TO INFORMATION.” He said the provision has been made “in recognition of the people’s right to know” and he indicated its significance in the following words: We think that this provision will let us know what our rulers are doing; how our resources and taxes are being used in their entirety, and how public policy is being conducted. It is, in our opinion, the first stage to run an open government in this country, which is very important for the promotion of democracy. It is only then that we can take part in decision making on nation-building. This provision, we hope, we will bring to an end, at least to a great extent, rumour mongering. FROM: THE MAKING OF THE FOURTH REPUBLIC CONSTITUTION OF GHANA COMMENT 22 years after Ghana passed the 4th Republic Constitution; she is yet to give real meaning to this constitutional provision through the passage of a meaningful Right To Information Law. Yes, Ghanaians have the right to information, but, duty bearers have restricted it to the “right to know what we want you to know” Our about 11 years old Right To Information Bill is being worked on in Parliament at the moment and we hope to soon see a law which would guarantee ‘maximum’ information in a ‘short’ time. The right to know how your resources are used and how you are being governed gives meaning to the right to vote. Otherwise voting is useless. Beyond strengthening transparency and accountability, it will reduce malicious “rumour mongering” (as Ameyibor noted), character assassinating allegations; and, produce trust in a democracy like ours which is full of mistrust and ill-suspicions. It will also improve record keeping in public institutions. And, the situation where, for instance, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako has more documents (information) about transactions of a Ministry than the Ministry in question will be improved. Information is power; keeping relevant information from the people is thus making them powerless. This is how powerless Ghanaians are. It is after heart-tearing amounts of monies are long gone and sometimes beyond retrieval that we hear about how we lost them. If we can’t cure, why don’t we work seriously on prevention? And, is there any better prevention tool than information? We need meaningful Right To Information Law NOW. So much has been kept from us for a very long time.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 13:57:20 +0000
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