The Right to Information Coalition has urged President Mahama to ensure he prevails on Parliament to have the Right to Information Bill passed into law before the end of 2016.

The Coalition at a news conference in Accra says the failure to have the Bill passed means the President and the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC) will lose credibility in the sight of Ghanaians because so many promises have been made that have gone unfulfilled.

"His Excellency, President John Dramani Mahama began a tour to the various regions to account to the people of Ghana on how his government has performed in terms of fulfilling previous campaign promises.  The Right to Information (RTI) Coalition would like to know from His Excellency, whether the promise by his government to pass the Right to Information Bill this year formed part of the agenda in the just concluded accountability tour," the Coalition said.

One after the other the Coalition cited promises made by the NDC and government functionaries that are yet to see the light of day.

According to the group, the NDC manifesto for 2008 and 2012 in which it promised to pass the RTI Bill into law and “deepen political accountability, transparency and enhance the disclosure of budgets, public expenditure, and procedures and enact the Freedom of Information Act” but they have not been fulfilled.

It also noted the Deputy Attorney-General, Dr Dominic Ayine, made a promise at the 117^th Session of the United Nation (UN)’s Human Rights Committee in Geneva in June 2016 that the RTI Bill will be passed by the government on July 22.

With three clear days to the end of July, the group believes this promise will stand in judgment of the government and its many unfulfilled promises.

The Coalition is disappointed that President Mahama and his government have not shown any commitment with barely five months to the December 2016 election.

It has urged Members of Parliament (MPs) to desist from serving the interest of their paymasters, but rather of Ghanaians.

If the current Parliament fails to pass the bill, it will be the oldest bill in the House considering it has been in the House some eleven years ago.

Even though the group believes the inaction of the House is becoming great, Chairman of Parliament’s Legal and Constitutional Committee, Magnus Kofi Amoatey, has dismissed claims the House is not interested in passing the Bill.

“Parliament is very much committed to the passage of the RTI. As we speak the bill is at the consideration stage and has been suspended not for any reason, but we have received other bills which are equally important which have some deadlines and we are working on it,” he told Evans Mensah, host of Joy FM’s Newsnite programme.

He says apart from the RTI Bill, there are other Bills such as the plant breeder’s Bill, and the Interstate Succession Bill that are also at the consideration stage awaiting finalization by Parliament.

Mr Amoatey says the fact that the House will be going on recess on Friday does not mean the Bill will not be passed before the end of the year.

“Let me say that the 6th Parliament is not being dissolved tomorrow [Friday] and it is working to the 6th of January. We are only going on recess. Mr Speaker himself says he is committed to the passage of the bill,” he said.

When asked if sittings of the House will not be affected given some of the MPs will have to campaign, Mr Amoatey says there is no provision in Parliament’s standing orders that states the passage of the RTI Bill requires a two-third majority of members.

The House will consider passing the Bill in October when it returns from recess, he added.