From the Centre for Law and Democracy:

Eight international organisations that promote respect for the right to information released a Joint Statement today calling on the Ghanaian authorities to review the Right to Information Bill, 2018, which is currently before parliament. The Statement outlines five key areas where the Bill fails to meet international standards.

“We very much welcome the fact that Ghana is finally moving forward with this important piece of legislation,” said Toby Mendel, Executive Director, CLD. “However, the current version of the Bill needs to be improved so that it can provide a strong foundation for fighting corruption and promoting good governance and robust democratic participation for the people of Ghana.”

In addition to the Centre for Law and Democracy, the seven other signatories to the Joint Statemetn are Access Info Europe, Africa Freedom of Information Centre, ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, Freedom of Information Coalition, Nigeria, International School for Transparency and Media Rights Agenda.

The five areas addressed in the Joint Statement are Exceptions, Scope and Requesting Procedures, Appeals, The Duty to Publish (Proactive Disclosure) and Sanctions, Offences and Promotional Measures. For each issue, the Joint Statement highlights the key amendments that are needed to bring the Bill into line with better practice.

On 12 June 2018, CLD released a detailed analysis of the Bill along with an assessment of it based on the RTI Rating (www.RTI-Rating.org). The Bill scored 89 points out of a possible maximum of 150, which would place Ghana in 49th place globally out of the 111 countries currently on the Rating.

The Joint Statement is available at: Joint Statement on Ghana’s Right to Information Bill.