Mr Stephen Asamoah Boateng, Minister for Information and National Orientation, said on Monday that the delay in the passing of the Information Bill was to enable government to strengthen the base for its implementation. He said the need for the civil and public service personnel to be trained and other elements to be put right as to how to give the information needed by the public was among other factors that has compelled government to hold on with the bill until those concerns had been addressed. Mr Asamoah Boateng said this in response to a question when he met Municipal and District Chief Executives, information officers and the media at a forum in Koforidua. He said the civil service structure as it stands now could not be efficient in the implementation of the bill “if we don’t train them to appreciate the need to give information freely.” Mr Asamoah Boateng said even without that law the media had access to information needed as far as the public was concerned and that the government was interested in information management and would therefore not deliberately block that bill. On governmental issues, the information minister said the government believed that it had to make known its good works to the public to know that the mandate given them had been utilized well. He said since governance had become competitive it was not out of place for them to compare with the state of affairs when they took power. The Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Afram-Asiedu, said information management was a key component of government activities that it could not afford to downplay. Source: GNA