Programmes Manager of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Africa Office, Esther Ahulu has explained the reasons behind the present limitations of the implementation of the Right to Information Law (RTI) two years after it was passed.
She notes that the implementation of the law is more of a process than an event. Acknowledging that the advocacy for the passing of the RTI bill took so many years, she notes that “we should be comfortable that a majority of people have information about the law.”
According to her, such a bill can only be effectively implemented if there are structures placed alongside to facilitate the implementation of the law. “So as it stands now, the reason why you will say we have access to the RTI law but we don’t have much information at our disposal is that the structures are now being put in place. We acknowledged that when the law was passed in Ghana we gave ourselves some time to prepare for the implementation but these structures have delayed.”
Per her understanding, the RTI is the only law in Ghana’s history that a period of time was given for the preparation of its implementation “and because of that, much of the basic fundamentals would’ve been put in place before the law was enforced but it was unfortunate the law is supposed to help us access information but that has not really been the case. We need to back it with the structures and make it realistic because the law alone will not give us whatever we need.”
Esther Ahulu noted that some of the structures of priority are the information manual and the fee for the reproduction of information in an interview with Samuel Eshun on e.TV Ghana’s Fact Sheet show.
She mentioned that one of the very key aspects of the RTI law requires all public institutions to publish manuals containing every information in their domain. “Here, the law states that after the RTI is implemented every public institution is supposed to come out with an information manual but I am yet to see any.”
On her accord, the manual gives the person requesting any information the kind of data or statistics the public institution can give out. “With the manual, you will know whether the information you’re going to request can be found in a particular institution or not.”
Further explaining the causes of the limitation placed on the implementation of the RTI, she added, “the law says we are to pay for the reproduction of the information but as we speak, parliament has not come out with the fees and charges act. We have cases where people go and request for information and are turned away because of the absence of the fees and charges act.”
She believes until these structures and other basic ones are put in place, there will be a huge challenge in the implementation of the law.
On the grounds of widespread public education and sensitization, she charged the responsible authorities to educate both the citizenry and private and public institutions under the act.
The Right to Information (RTI) Bill was passed on 26 March 2019 by the Parliament of Ghana. It received presidential assent on May 21, 2019, and became effective in January 2020.
Prior to its passage, various stakeholders believed the delay in passing the bill into law was to allow exemptions of certain vital information bordering around government policies which they intend to conceal from the public (Akoto, 2012).
This bill is to enable citizens to hold the government accountable to ensure that there is a high level of transparency in the governance of the country.