Ghana Web:
Ghana: Friday, May 31, 2019.
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 operationalised, and that
required 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.