The Dean of Communication Studies at the Wisconsin University College, Professor Kwame Karikari has urged the citizenry to be cautious with their excitement over the passage of the Right to Information Law by Parliament.
“Until the content of the new law is
studied and accepted to be responsive to the challenges with information
gathering in the country, there is the need for caution among stakeholders.
“The RTI bill may either enhance the access
to information or rubbish the whole process, that is why we are interested in
the content of the bill, until we see, read, study what the act contains, we
cannot jubilate and have a party.
“If the document does not meet our
expectations, give us the necessary provisions, we will fight against it in
court but we are hoping for the best, the media should not put too much premium
on the RTI Bill because the bill will not necessarily help journalists meet
deadlines and achieve quality daily news production,” Prof Karikari noted.
A leading member of the Right to
Information Coalition, Kofi Bentil has hinted that the coalition will fight any
attempt by politicians to conceal information to the public under the guise of
National Security following the passage of the Right to Information Law (RTI).
“The implementation of the law will be
keenly monitored, despite the passage of the RTI, there are fears among some
citizenry politicians and government officials may seek to hide key information
by simply flagging them national security documents,” he intimated.
Mr Bentil, who is Vice Chairman of IMANI Africa, indicated that “we are happy the RTI bill has been considered but that is not to say it is perfect, we are ready to work at it, make it better, going forward, no one has the right to say they do not have information on an issue or another, we know there will be times where information will be kept from the public in the name of national security but that will have to be clearly defined
-starrfmonline.com
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