Public institutions without right to information officersto be sanctioned in 2022

Executive Secretary of The Right To Information Commission, Lawyer Yaw Sarpong Boateng has intimated that public institutions without Right To Information officers will from 2022 be sanctioned.

Ghana’s parliament passed into law the Right To Information, RTI bill in 2019. The law is meant to allow citizens access to a certain category of information in order to hold government accountable has been the subject of a series of protests especially from the media and civil society groups. The right to information is enshrined in Ghana’s 1992 Constitution but, for many years, the country, despite its stellar media landscape and democratic credentials, had struggled to pass the RTI law.

Addressing press men in the Bono East Regional capital, Techiman during a nationwide public lecture and forum aimed at sensitizing heads of institutions and stakeholders on the Right To Information Act, Lawyer Boateng reiterated the commission’s readiness to ensure the law is implemented to restore sanity in the system.

He believes that heads of institutions should have officers to assist public in accessing information after the law came into force in 2020. He has however cautioned the various public institutions to expedite process of employing right to information officers in order to avoid the penalty.

Meanwhile, Mr. George Padmore Mensah Bono East Regional Chief Director on behalf of the Minister Kwasi Adu Gyan pledged support in providing an office accommodation for the commission to ensure the effectiveness of the law.