Need for thorough education on RTI – Information Minister
There is the need for the citizenry to be thoroughly educated on the Right to Information (RTI) law, before it is fully implemented.
This is because such understanding is key to the successful implementation of the RTI.
Mr. Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Minister of Information, said this on Thursday in Accra, at a day’s Stakeholder Workshop on the implementation of the RTI.
He said considering the fact that “we have tried to get this done on several occasions, it is important for us to set the right context for what is to follow”.
The Minister observed for instance, that, many were of the view that the RTI act was a law to give people the right to information but said that right, was already enshrined in the 1992 constitution.
The Information Minister said the RTI, when fully applied, would basically enable people to exercise that right.
He said currently, the hard part of the job, was how to get everyone to understand RTI as well as possible.
“For us at the Ministry of Information, the Act is the result of the collaboration that has gotten it enacted, assented to and ready for implementation,” Mr. Nkrumah said.
The Minister said it was important now that through that same collaboration ensure the effective implementation of the RTI.
He said from January 2nd, 2020, the RTI law would be operationalize, and that requires a lot of work now.
The Minister encouraged stakeholders to put forth their best towards an effective implementation of the RTI, saying, “We ask you to put forward your ideas so we have a very good implementation,”
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, on May 21st, gave assent to the Right to Information Act, which was passed by Parliament in March this year, 2019.
Whilst the Right to Information is enshrined in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, the country has struggled to pass of the Right to Information Law since 1999.
President Akuffo-Addo has said when properly applied, the act could prove a critical tool in the fight against corruption.
Source: GNA