The Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has disclosed that the Right To Information Commission received 247 requests for information in 2021 alone.
He added that 189 public institutions have submitted their 2021 annual reports to the Commission.
Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah said this in Parliament when he presented the report on the implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) Law from January to December 2021.
He said analysis of the reports revealed that out of the 247 requests for information received, 65 were processed with the Department of Children receiving the highest number of requests for information (34 requests).
He said out of the total number of requests received, 159 were granted while others were refused, deferred, transferred, referred, or denied in accordance with the RTI Act.
The Minister said the RTI Act, 2019 has identified and classified some information as exempt which calls for safeguards, including those related to public security or individual privacy.
“It is important for citizens to understand Mr Speaker that in some limited circumstances, public institutions have a legitimate right by law, to keep some types and classes of information away from the general public,” he said.
He noted that the Commission, however, as an independent and impartial body, has also been resourced to deal with any undue denials by public institutions.
“The Commission now operates from an office complex in Dzowulu in Accra to serve as its headquarters. It is also in the process of setting up at least four zonal offices across the country in the year 2022,” he added.
The Minister said for 2021, the Commission received 24 applications for review from institutions and individuals who were not satisfied with the grounds on which they were denied access to information.
He said out of the number, the Commission made six written determinations and eight were settled through mediation and the remaining 10 are still under review.
“One of the Commission’s determinations resulted in a suit against it by a public institution. The High Court of Ghana ruled in favour of the Commission on 17th February 2022, this, Mr Speaker, is testimony that the commission is striving to apply the law to the best of its abilities,” he stated.
Mr Oppong said the Access to Information (ATI) Division was established within the Information Services Department to provide back-end technical support to MDAs and their RTI Officers across the country to equip them to deliver on RTI obligations.
“The ATI division has trained and posted 87 RTI officers to 87 public institutions so far. Though the remaining 452 institutions do not have RTI officers from the ATI division resident and responding to requests, already available officers who handle other duties within these 452 institutions have been trained and designated as RTI officers to handle requests,” he added.
On challenges facing the Commission, he said the ATI Division and the Commission require financial clearance to employ and deploy RTI officers to fully populate the RTI units in the remaining 452 public offices to enable them to respond to requests for information.
“The RTI commission needs significant funding to enable it to educate the public and promote the use of the RTI act. It also needs more resources to deepen monitoring and evaluation of RTI officers and implementation processes respectively,” he added.
He lamented that several public institutions, especially institutions where the ATI division of the ISD has not posted officers, do not respect the timelines laid down in the RTI act.
To address the challenges, the Minister said the setting up of zonal Offices for the RTI Commission to ensure compliance at the regional and district levels was essential, adding that the prosecution of offences under the RTI Act includes seeking sanctions on institutions and officers that do not respect the timelines once the Law is passed.
“Finally, Mr Speaker, we also seek to finalise Regulations for passage to strengthen the Legislative Instrument for Act 989,” he added.
He hinted that the Commission would embark on nationwide sensitization and capacity-building to educate the public on the right to information.
He urged the public to make use of the RTI Act to access information from various public institutions.
Patience Anaadem, ISD
