Story by: Yesmeen Abubakar Tetteh
The Minister for Information, Fatimatu Abubakar, has highlighted several significant challenges faced in 2023 during the implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2019.
In a statement to Parliament on Friday, June 28, the Minister emphasized the need for increased financial resources and cooperation from public institutions to ensure the effective functioning of the RTI architecture.
Fatima identified five primary challenges: inadequate financial resources, logistical constraints, attrition among RTI officers, limited cooperation from public institutions, and bureaucratic practices that impede the timely response to information requests.
She pointed out that the lack of adequate financial resources has been a major obstacle, affecting activities that ensure the effective functioning of the RTI architecture, including quality assurance.
The Minister also highlighted attrition among RTI officers, noting a significant number of resignations during the year due to reasons such as travelling for further studies and job opportunities. This has reduced the number of RTI officers across various public institutions, making it difficult for the Division to provide back-end support.
Furthermore, Fatima mentioned challenges in getting some public institutions to comply with certain aspects of the law. She noted that some heads of public institutions still sign off responses to RTI requests contrary to Section 19 of the RTI Act, 2019. Bureaucratic practices within public institutions have also impeded the turnaround time for responses to information requests, complicating the implementation process.
To address these issues, the Minister called for increased budgetary allocations for both the RTI Commission and the ATI Division of the Information Services Department (ISD). She emphasized the need for financial clearance to complete staffing and compliance measures.
Similarly, the ATI Division must replace exited officers and populate the outstanding 333 public institutions with information officers to ensure full compliance with the Act.
She affirmed that the successful implementation of the RTI Act is crucial for promoting transparency and accountability in Ghana, and stressed the need to overcome these challenges to ensure every citizen can exercise their right to information.
