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Tag: RTI BILL

  • Government Optimistic About Overcoming Present Difficulties- Kojo Oppong Nkrumah

    Government Optimistic About Overcoming Present Difficulties- Kojo Oppong Nkrumah

    Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of Information, has assured Ghanaians that securing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) deal is not the only resolution to dealing with the current economic challenges.

    The government has since July last year, engaged the fund for a $3 billion rescue to assist rebuild the economy. In addition to this, government has rolled out policies and programmes aimed at restoring macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability.

    Players in the industry have consistently voiced their ideas about how the government should help Ghanaians get relief. Providing an update on the engagement with the IMF thus far, Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, said government is optimistic of overcoming present difficulties.

    “The Government of Ghana has had an enhanced programme which has been designed to help us recover from major shocks we are suffering. And to make that programme effectual, we will need some balance of payments support from the IMF.

    “And that is what we have been working on, and all indications suggest to us that we should be bringing that to a closure pretty soon. But that is not all the panacea to our economic challenges, we have other programmes to help us to bring back growth, help private sector kicking and get cost of living under control.”

    Kojo Oppong Nkrumah

    President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo on May 2 courted the support of Japan to help Ghana reach an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Board for the 3 billion dollar balance of payment support.

    President Nana Addo Danka Akufo-Addo having a conversation at the Jubilee House with Fumio Kishida, the Japanese Prime Minister, sought the help of Japan; which is a member of the Paris Club, to play a major role in helping Ghana secure the deal with the IMF. He exclaimed that Ghana will repay whatever help that is gotten from Japan in securing the deal.

    “Ghana is also counting on the support of Japan in reaching a favourable agreement with the International Monetary Fund which will pave the way for the robust recovery of Ghana’s economy.”

    Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

    Right To Information Secretariat Receives Over 1000 Information Requests

    Kojo Oppong Nkrumah disclosed that the Right to Information Secretariat (RTI) has so far received a total of 1,053 information requests, out of which 838 have been granted.

    Kojo Oppong Nkrumah

    Despite the countless trials met in the execution of duties, Oppong Nkrumah stated that the Secretariat tries its best to provide service to the public.

    “We have received 1,053 information requests, and we have granted 838 of them, that is about 80 percent of all the requests that have come through. The other 20 percent are in other categories. Some have been rejected based on the law. There are those that have been deferred or transferred to other institutions, based on what the law says.”

    Kojo Oppong Nkrumah

    The Minister of Information indicated that the Secretariat has units properly stationed in all parts of the country to enable it serve the public with information.

    He however stressed the demand for information is the challenge, however, the Secretariat will “continue to engage in public education to help the demand side because once people know how the law works, then they are better able to apply the law in their search for information and I think that gives a fair sense of how we are doing in implementing this law. The majority of the requests have come from journalists, followed by civil society groups and then a bit of academia, and then individuals also coming through [with requests].”

    The RTI Bill was first drafted in 1999, and reviewed in 2003, 2005, and 2007 but was only presented to Parliament in 2010. It was brought back to the Sixth Parliament but could not be passed till the expiration of that Parliament on January 6, 2016, and was eventually passed in May 2019.

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  • There’s limited knowledge on RTI law- Kwaku Asante

    There’s limited knowledge on RTI law- Kwaku Asante

    Programmes Officer of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Kwaku Krobea Asante, has stated that there is limited knowledge by various institutions on the Right to Information (RTI) law. He disclosed that the MFWA has tested the law by writing to public institutions but realized the knowledge on it is low.

    Speaking on the level of awareness of the RTI law, he expressed worry over the seeming failure of the Right to Information (RTI) law, saying that the 20-year battle for the realization of the law may have gone down the drain, as most people have not fully grasped the essence of the law, including journalists.

    “From where we sit as the Media Foundation for West Africa and having done extensive work on the access to information law over the past 20 years, I still think there is no or very limited knowledge and awareness of the law. Despite being in the 2nd year of its implementation, I say awareness is low. On our own, we have tried to test this law by writing to public institutions and local government institutions in three different regions to sit back and wait and see how they react to the law. And we made these requests hoping to realize the spirit of the law and what it hopes to achieve.

    “We also went to test the tenets of the law and what it stipulates institutions to do when they receive such a request and we realized that even among these public institutions whom the law largely bases to be functional, we find very low knowledge and very limited resources to them.”

    Kweku Asante
    ·Right Structures Needed for Effective RTI implementation- Esther Ahulu

    Touching on journalist’s awareness, Mr. Asante said the profession whose mandate is to deal with information and educate the public, also have low awareness and understanding of the law. According to him, it has already been two years since the law was implemented and believes a considerable number of people should have been well aware of the law.

    “I think we are facing this challenge because we don’t see much aggressive publicity or visibility campaigns by the institutions that are mandated to do so. This campaign on the law has largely been about coalitions. We don’t seem to get the government contributing to creating awareness on the law.”

    Kweku Asante

    He posited that it is not only the duty of the government to undertake these educational campaigns but insisted it plays a huge role. He therefore urged other authorities to help with educating Ghanaians on the law.

    “It goes two ways but I place much more responsibility in the hands of government. As we all know, it is the Ministry of Information heading this exercise and there is the Right to Information Commission. We have heard a lot of information from the minister on the officers they have trained to sensitize Ghanaians on the law. If we talk about resources to get the work done, it is supposed to be the responsibility of government and we as journalists have to also bear some level of responsibility. This is because we work on the maxim of educating and informing the public, but it largely falls on the authorities.”

    Kweku Asante
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