Fighting corruption away with empty promises

Can one dream of a nation free from corruption? Where there is no bias in favour of the privileged in society. Where the appropriate authorities are held accountable for their actions. Where the press is free to access timely and credible information for dissemination, whether it affects sentiments or critique the government.

This may be too far-fetched a dream as thievery, unaccountable governance, sole-sourcing and ineffective participation of the public in the governance process seems to be the order of the day in the country. Ghana, cherished for being the beacon of democracy  in Africa, has recently been rocked by corruption scandals as seen in the Bulk Oil Storage Transportation (BOST) saga, issues with COCOBOD and the allegation of corrupt practices at the Electoral Commission of Ghana to name a few.

Potent Solutions

One of the potent solutions to the numerous scandals of corrupt practices in our country rests in the hands of our leaders, especially the Executive and the Legislature, to give us a good right to information law. This is because an effective right to information legislation promotes access to timely and adequate information thereby promoting transparency and hindering secrecy which promotes corruption.

 The right to information is an internationally recognised fundamental human right to access information held by public institutions. In Ghana, it takes its roots from the democratic principle that the sovereignty of the nation is in the hands of the people and on whose behalf the government exercises powers enshrined in Article 1(1) of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana. Article 21(1) (f) of our Constitution affirms this principle by granting all persons the right to information subject to such qualifications and laws as are necessary in a democratic society.

Qualifications

What are those qualifications and laws necessary in a democratic society that citizens’ right to information is subject to? His is why the need for an RTI law to clearly spell out those conditions. Ghana began the journey to enact a RTI law in 2002 and to date, citizens are still struggling to push the leaders to do the needful by passing the RTI bill into law. 

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