25 years of Democratic rule: pass the RTI Bill - CDD to Gov't

The Center for Democratic Development (CDD) has lamented the failure of consecutive governments to pass the 17-year-old Right to Information Bill 25 years after returning to democratic governance.

The CDD, in a statement to commend Ghana for maintaining its democratic credentials over the period, stated it was dismayed that “governmental accountability and responsiveness have remained highly insufficient [despite delivery of considerable voice to citizenry under the 4th Republic].”

It bemoaned that “public corruption remains pervasive; progress of the constitutionally-mandated political, administrative and fiscal decentralization has stalled; the economy remains characterized by jobless growth; income and spatial inequality are on the rise in spite of poverty reduction; and the nation’s two main political parties which have alternated in power in the 4th Republic have increasingly taken on the features of rival cults (whose primary purpose seemingly is to win elections, achieve “state capture” and practice “winner-takes-all” politics).”

Ghana commemorated 25 years of the 4th Republic, which has so far seen the leadership of 5 presidents including the incumbent, Nana Akufo-Addo.

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The statement said: “We are also happy with the prevalence of peace and unity in the country as well as the growing levels of economic and social development, broadly speaking.”

However, it said the Centre continued to note with dismay that government's accountability and responsiveness had remained highly insufficient.

“Despite delivery of considerable voice to the citizenry under the Fourth Republic; public corruption remained pervasive; progress of the constitutionally-mandated political, administrative and fiscal decentralisation has stalled; and the economy remained characterised by joblessness,” it said.

The statement said: “Income and spatial inequality are on the rise in spite of poverty reduction; and the nation’s two main political parties, which have alternated in power in the Fourth Republic, have increasingly taken on the features of rival cults (whose primary purpose seemingly is to win elections, achieve ‘state capture’ and practice ‘winner-takes-all politics)”.

“We are particularly concerned about the failure on the part of successive governments and majority parties to address the well-known gaps and deficiencies in the 1992 Constitution such as overconcentration of legal and constitutional power in the hands of the executive branch in general, (especially the presidency), and indirectly, the governing political party,” it said.

The statement further continued saying, while the CDD-Ghana deservingly celebrates the country’s longest-running constitutional order since independence, “we must also pause to reflect on the things we must do to consolidate and deepen the gains made possible by the Fourth Republican Constitution.

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“The list is long, but we can start by passing the 17-year old Right to Information Bill and reforming the public office-holder asset disclosure regime to promote transparency and accountability as well as curb corruption in the public sector.

It further called for the strengthening of the country’s Parliament to enable it to play an effective oversight role over the Executive to ensure accountability in governance, arguing that President Akufo-Addo’s aim of making Ghana a country beyond aid can only be realised when elections are held for MMDCEs as a way of promoting local government decentralization and effectiveness.

 

primenewsghana.com/Ghana News