Parliament to enact on Right to Information Bill - Prof Kwame Karikari

Convener on the Right to Information Bill, Prof Kwame Karikari says it is not enough for President Mahama to pay lip service to the passage of the Right to Information Bill. 

He says the President must ensure that Parliament passes the bill this year, to give credence to Ghana’s democratic principles of Freedom of Expression. 

Professor Karikari said this in Accra to commemorate World Press Freedom Day, where he spoke on the ‘’Delay of the Right to Information Law: Undermining the People’s Right to Know and Devaluing Press Freedom’’. 

He recalled that it is fifteen years now, since the Media Foundation for West Africa spearheaded advocacies to get Parliament to enact a Right to Information Bill. 

Professor Karikari said past Presidents have all provided excuses for their inability to get Parliament to pass the bill into law. 

The Coalition on the Right to Information believes that it will be in the interest of the Mahama administration to ensure that it gets parliament to pass the Right to Information Bill as a testimony to all that it supports transparency, accountability and democracy. 

Meanwhile, the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) is leading the Ghanaian media to climax  Press Freedom Day  with a symposium and flag-raising at the International Press Centre.

GBC