The Deputy Attorney-General, Kwame Osei Prempeh has supported President Kufuor’s call for caution in passing and implementing the Freedom of Information Bill. President Kufuor had expressed concern that the passage of the bill could be expensive if not well managed. He was interacting with delegates to the 41st Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People's Rights at the Castle, Osu. He also spoke of his Government's determination to put in place the necessary institutions and laws to protect the rights of the people, citing the passage of the Domestic Violence Law and the repeal of the Criminal Libel Law as proof of commitment. However, his comments left advocates of the law, including journalists and pressure groups wondering if the bill currently before Cabinet and being studied by the Attorney-General’s Office, would be passed any time soon. Janet Quarcoopome, a member of the coalition pushing for the passage of the bill said Ghana need not wait any further to have it passed because in many instances, it is not exactly possible to wait to put in place entirely perfect data management systems before passing the law. She said the government had been bold and courageous enough to sign onto and ratify several anti-corruption instruments, conventions and protocols in and beyond the country and wondered why the government would not go ahead and pass the bill. She disagreed that the cost of implementation should be sufficient reason to suspend the passage. But Osei Prempeh told Joy News it was not one law any society would want to rush its passage and called on all advocates of the bill to exercise restraint to ensure that a thorough job was done on the foundation so the bill, when eventually passed, would stand the test of time. “Let me say that in the UK when the Labour Government promised that they will pass that bill, they came to power in 1997; they were able to pass the bill into an Act in 2000 and when they passed it, it took five years for them to start the implementation which shows that the way forward is not very straight. So much as government is very committed to every democratic principle, and wants things to go, we believe that we need to hasten on this matter a bit slowly.” Osei Prempeh said experts have advised that until Ghana is able to address her poor record keeping habit, it would be disastrous to pass the law, and for the cost implication, the UK spent 25 million pounds sterling in the first year of implementation alone.