By Emmanuel Oti Acheampong
The Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has outlined the strides made by the Right to Information Law Commission since its inauguration and implementation of the law in the country.
During his speech at the Public Forum on the implementation of the RTI Law, the Minister acknowledged the efforts of Civil Society Organizations in the drafting of the bill and also the sensitization of the public for over two decades until it saw its implementation light.
According to the Sector Minister, The law that empowers individuals, Journalists, Students and the entire public to exercise their rights by seeking information from public institutions has chalked some great marks after its three years of implementation.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah mentioned that, after its inauguration, the commission has been able to establish nearly 500 Information Units in public institutions across the country from January 2020. He said in all these established Information Units, Information Officers who can respond to information requests have also been intensively trained.
“We have established nearly 500 Information Units in public institutions nationwide since January 2020. In at least these public institutions, there is a trained information officer who can respond to information requests as they come”, he said.
Mr. Oppong Nkrumah also added that regular training, sensitization and capacity enhancement of public institutions have ensured an appreciable level of understanding and compliance of the law across the country.
He further added that, by November 2020, there have been over 1000 requests for information across the various public institutions and majority of these requests have overwhelmingly been granted.
According to him, this signifies that implementation of the law is seeing an uptick in public education and sensitization is also on the rise following several campaigns and public forum by the RTI Commission and other Civil Society groups.
