The Media Coalition on Right to Information, the Right to Information Coalition and Occupy Ghana wish to announce Friday November 30, 2018 and every other Friday before Christmas as #RTIRedFriday against the delay by Parliament in passing the Right to Information (RTI) Bill.
The CSOs in a press release copied to Newsghana.com.gh, noted that there will also be street advocacies and visits to Parliament on selected days within this period to press home their demands.
“We call on all Ghanaians across the country to wear anything RED on all these Fridays to demonstrate to our elected Members of Parliament our collective resolve to get them to work in our interests as their employers, and not in their personal or political party interests as has been the case over the years so far as the passage of the RTI Bill is concerned,” They emphasized.
Additionally, they noted that the start of the #RTIRedFriday action began a countdown to the Rt. Hon. Speaker’s recent promise that the Bill would be passed before Parliament rises this year.
The action was jointly implemented with OccupyGhana®, the Media Coalition on RTI and all member organizations of the Coalition on the Right to Information, Ghana, including Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) Africa Office, Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC), PenPlusBytes, SEND-Ghana.
The rest were Civil Society Platform on SDGs, Alliance for Women in Media Africa (AWMA), Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), Human Rights Advocacy Center (HRAC), POS Foundation, Center for Employment of Persons with Disabilities (CEPD), Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Coalition of NGOs in Health, Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), Legal Resources Center, Media Foundation for West Africa and Parliamentary Network Africa (PNAfrica).
“It is disconcerting to note that our right to information, which is a fundamental human right guaranteed by the Constitution of Ghana and recognized as a right by International Conventions on Human Rights, has not received the needed attention by our elected representatives who have failed to legislate on the matter since 5th February, 2010, when the RTI Bill was first laid in Parliament.
As Ghana’s choice of democratic governance requires an active participation by all in the governance process, thereby making the right to information particularly relevant, it behooves on us as citizens to join hands to demand the passage of a credible Bill. It is only when those who are to participate in governance are well informed that they can contribute meaningfully,” The group reiterated.
***#RTIRedFriday***
