RTI Act: 285 public institutions complied in the first year of implementation-Oppong Nkrumah
Mr.Oppong Nkrumah stated that his ministry was tasked with the responsibility of ensuring public institutions were prepared to deliver on their mandates under the Act.
“I am happy to inform this august House that for the first 12 months after the commencement of this Act, significant gains have been made in the implementation of the Law by public institutions”.
This observation was made by Hon Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, Minister for Information when he briefed Parliament on the implementation of the RTI Act by public institutions from January to December 2020.
According to him, 285 public institutions complied with the Right to Information(RTI) Act 2019(ACT 989) in the first year of its implementation.
He noted that 219 public institutions out of the 285 submitted their annual reports on RTI activities within their various institutions.
Furthermore, the minister revealed that a total number of 85 requests for information were received in 32 public institutions and duly processed. 72 requests out of the above were granted and others deferred, referred, declined, transferred accordingly.
Mr.Oppong Nkrumah stated that his ministry was tasked with the responsibility of ensuring public institutions were prepared to deliver on their mandates under the Act.
Subsequently, a roadmap was implemented in consultation with stakeholders like the Parliamentary Select Committee on Communications, the RTI Coalition, the Data Protection Commission, UNESCO Ghana, and the Heads of the Civil and Local Government Services.
The Minister concluded that on July 17, 2020, the Access to Information (ATI) Division was set up within the Information Services Department(ISD), whose duty is to train and deploy RTI officers to the various MDAs.
