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Freedom of Information law in the
works
Accra, July 30, Ghanadot - Both government and opposition
members are ready to embrace the long awaited Freedom
Information (FOI) bill in Parliament. This fact was
brought to the attention of members attending
a two-day conference on Freedom
of Information (FOI) in Accra on Monday.
Mr Alban Bagbin, Minority
Leader, said the Freedom of Information law was long overdue
as it was necessary for the public to know what was going
on.
"For information to be public good, there should be a law
making it accessible and efforts to get the FOI bill passed
are an effort to be supported by all," he said.
Mr. Frank Agyekum, Government
Spokesperson on Governance, said the government had passed
several laws to ensure that there was transparency in
governance.
He observed that African governments had not done enough to
enact laws on FOI, but in Ghana a bill had been drafted to
be sent to Parliament to be passed to make retrieval of
information easy.
Mr Agyekum gave the assurance
that the government was desirous and committed to pass the
FOI law.
The conference that is still
going on in Accra is designed for a cross-range of
participants and all relevant stakeholders in FOI advocacy.
It is expected to discuss the challenges and devise measures
to address them and bridge any gaps that may be present in
its enactment.
Mr. Bagbin said for the public to trust government required
some transparency to assure that it was using the country's
resources in the interest of the people and that it was
exercising power for them. According to him, he was part of
the draft legislation team on FOI in 1999 before the NDC
lost the 2000 elections.
He said the bill, if passed, would make the public know how
information generated by government for public good was
stored and the procedure for retrieving it.
Professor Kwame Karikari of the Media Foundation for West
Africa, also at today's session of the conference, noted
that there was indication that there was a dire need to
enact a legislation that clearly stipulated the content of
the right to access information for democratic governance.
He said the right to information was recognized as a
fundamental human right in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and was legally enforceable under Article 19 of
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and
Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples'
Rights.
Nana Oye Lithur, Regional Coordinator, Commonwealth Human
Rights Initiative, Africa Office, Ghana, noted that the new
breed of African political leaders had adopted the New
Partnership for Africa's Development {NEPAD}, which
envisioned governance reforms, eradication of poverty and
economic growth.
She said under NEPAD some African countries had submitted
themselves to be "peer reviewed" under the African Peer
Review Mechanism.
Nana Oye Lithur said public bodies held information not for
themselves but as custodians of the public good, adding that
everyone had a right to access information.
Admittedly, she said, an effective system of checks and
balances and strong political constitutions were critical to
democratic governance in Africa.
"The task of promoting democracy faces a deepening set of
challenges and contradictions as we move into the fourth
decade, since the great wave of democratic expansion began
in 1974," she added.
Nana Oye Lithur stated that the critical issue was how to
enhance good governance through transparency and
accountability in Africa.
"Access to public information is a requisite for the very
functioning of democracy, greater transparency and good
governance in a representative participatory democratic
system."
Nana Oye said a large stockpile of valuable information
lying with government was still deliberately held away from
the people because of assumption that information was
secret.
Source GNA
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