OccupyGhana, a pressure group, has urge the government to renounce its reaction to a request for information in regards to the progress of the proposed conduct of Public Officers Bill 2022.OccupyGhana maintain that it is being caught by the government letter's secret and confidential labelling.
OccupyGhana request an update on the situation with the important Bill in a letter to the Attorney-General (AG) and Minister of Justice in August 2022.
It used the Right to information law to demand information about the actions being taken by the appropriate authorities in response to recent claims because of conflict of interest" evened out against some government employees."
Following a half year, the government response to the pressure has been classified as confidence.
In any case, OccupyGhana suspects this is a deliberate attempt by the government to trap it and request that the response be quickly withdrawn.
"Our request to you in the exercise of our constitutional right to information was not confidential. We were surely not seeking for information that comprised a state secret. We simply needed to know the status with the Draft Bill, since we realized it had been submitted with a Memorandum for cabinet's approval. Cabinet's decision, which would mean the Executive will or won't forward it to Parliament for debate and enactment into law, is certainly not a matter that is confidential or a state secret."
"Sadly, the 'trap' of those markings means that assuming we disclose this momentous and disappointing decision to the public, we could, apparently, be accused of offenses under the State Secrets Act, 1962 (Act 101). Despite the fact that we figure any such prosecution would be wicked and would surely fail, we would rather not go down that way", the statement read in parts.
The draft Conduct of Public Officers Bill, 2022 proposes, among others, the removal of the unconstitutional expansion of time given to public officers to declare assets and liabilities.
The draft Bill is anyway yet to acquire Cabinet approval for ahead thought and approval by Parliament.
OccupyGhana has in the past been pushing for the swift passage of the Bill.
Here is the full statement from OccupyGhana
Our request to you in the exercise of our constitutional right to information was not confidential. We were positively not seeking for information that comprised a state secrets. We simply needed to know the status with the Draft Bill, since we realized it had been submitted with a Memorandum for Cabinet's approval. Cabinet's decision, which would mean the Executive will or won't forward it to Parliament for debate and enactment into law, is definitely not a matter that is confidential or a state secret.
Sadly, the 'trap' of those markings truly means that assuming we disclose this momentous and disappointing decision to the public, we could, seemingly, be accused of offenses under the State Secrets Act, 1962 (Act 101). Despite the fact that we figure any such indictment would be devilish and would certainly fail, we would rather not go down that way. It is just unfathomable and perplexing that Cabinet's would take a decision to either approve or reject of a Draft Bill that tries to regulate the conduct of public officers, declaration of assets, and so on, and which is as of now in the public domain, yet would need its decision regarding this mater and the reason behind it to stay classified as well as a state secrets. We dare Cabinet to be bold and permit us to share your letter to Ghanaians, and not cower behind the State Secrets Act on a matter like this.
We in this way welcome you to communicate to us in writing, your withdrawal of those markings, so we might inform the people of Ghana of the Government's interest or generally in attempting to ensure that the Draft Bill becomes regulate the conduct of public officers, for the several reasons you state in that letter.
Kindly respond as soon as possible.
RE: RIGHT TO INFORMATION REQUEST ON THE STATUS OF THE DRAFT CONDUCT OF PUBLIC OFFICERS BILL, 2022.
We have received your letter dated 14 February 2023 (your ref: OPCA.3/3/140223), responding our inquires on the above-matter. You have at last communicated to us, a half year after we initially kept in touch with you, Cabinet's decision on whether it would approve the previously mentioned Draft Memorandum and Bill for submission to Parliament. For the communication of such a momentous by the Executive, we are shocked that your two-page final reaction to our Right to Information Request is boldly stamped 'CONFIDENTIAL' on the main page and stamped 'SECRET' on the second page.
We will follow cues from you and send copies of this letter to every one of the people you copied your letter to. Be that as it may, we will also copy all press houses on the grounds that our letters to you are neither confidential nor a state secret.
Yours in the help of God and Ghana
OccupyGhana
cc. Chief of Staff
Office of the President
Jubilee House
Accra
Secretary to the President
Office of the President
Jubilee House
Accra