Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has indicated that since the introduction of the Right to Information (RTI) law in 2020, 478 public institutions in the country have established information units and have been assigned designated RTI officers to facilitate the implementation of the law.
Providing updates on the progress of the law thus far during the Minister’s Press Briefing on Wednesday, May 10, 2023 in Accra, the Minister said the law has made remarkable inroads since its introduction as the legal framework that provides the constitutional rights of persons to access official information held by public institutions and relevant private institutions.
“Since the passage of the RTI Law, 478 public institutions in Ghana have established information units and designated RTI officers to facilitate the implementation of the law,” he said.
According to the Minister, since the inception of the law, his Ministry has put in place the right structures to ensure its smooth operation.
He said the establishment of the information units and the designation of RTI officers are part of these structures and shows government’s commitment to ensuring transparency and accountability in public institutions.
“The RTI law is a critical tool in our efforts to deepen transparency and accountability in public `institutions. We are committed to ensuring that public institutions comply with the law’s provisions, and we will continue to monitor their implementation to ensure that they are doing so,” he added.
This, Mr. Oppong Nkrumah urged members of the public to take advantage of the RTI law to access information from public institutions, saying that it is their right to do so.
“The RTI law empowers citizens to demand information from public institutions, and we encourage all Ghanaians to exercise this right. We believe that the law will go a long way in promoting transparency, accountability, and good governance in the country,” he said.
The RTI law was passed by Parliament in 2019 and became operational in 2020. The law aims to promote transparency and accountability in public institutions by providing citizens with the right to access information held by public institutions.
