[ 2017-05-04 ]

Osei Kyei Mensah Bonsu, Majority leader

Protect reputations – Media urged
Majority Leader Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu has urged
the media to strive hard to protect the integrity
of people rather than seeking to tarnish
hard-earned reputation.

He said this in a speech read on his behalf by the
Deputy Majority Leader and Minister of State in
charge of Procurement, Adwoa Safo, in a ceremony
to mark World Press Freedom Day in Accra on
Wednesday 3 May.

“I want to plead with you as we do our work as
the media, as is guaranteed in our constitution,
as we push for this bill [RTI bill] to be
[passed], I believe that the hard-earned
reputation of people should not be compromised.

Because if you look in article 162, 163, 164, it
also talks about the responsibility of the media.
So inasmuch as we want to check everybody, let’s
make sure that in doing so, we do not tarnish the
hard-earned reputation of people,” he said.

On his part, the Information Minister, Mustapha
Hamid, said the long-awaited Right to Information
(RTI) bill would be passed into law by Ghana’s
parliament in July.

“We were advised that once the life of a certain
parliament lapses, whatever bills were before that
parliament ought to be relayed because a new
parliament has come into being. And so to assure
you that per the calendar that we have sent to
parliament, it is in there that in the May to July
session of this parliament, the RTI shall be
before them for debate and for passage; that is a
given, it is non-negotiable,” he said.

Meanwhile, Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu pledged
the commitment of parliament to pass the RTI and
Broadcasting bills before the expiration of their
tenure of office.

He also called for the need to properly define the
roles of the National Communications Authority
(NCA) and the National Media Commission (NMC) with
regards to who regulates the airwaves. According
to him, parliament cannot continue to be in a
dilemma in its quest to protect press freedom.

Source - classfmonline.com

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