RTI Law: Journalists must familiarize with details of the Act

Minister for Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has appealed to media practitioners to familiarize with provisions in the Right to Information (RTI) Law (Act, 2019, Act 989) for their own good.

He said it is responsibility of journalists and media practitioners to carefully read all portions of the Act and to ensure that they implement it to the later by taking advantage of its detailed provisions.

Oppong Nkrumah stated this on Monday when he delivered a speech during the official commissioning of a new office complex for the RTI Commission and a Media Forum.

The Minister observed that during the deliberation stages of the draft RTI Bill in Parliament a lot of the media practitioners displayed ignorance at what the document contained.

“From the kind of questions most media practitioners were asking at the various fora by Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) or government ahead of the passage of the Bill into law, it was obvious they didn’t know about it,” he stated.

“I don’t know how many practitioners have read the Act a year after its passage. We can only do an effective monitoring and evaluation of the work of the commission if we are abreast with what is contained in the Act,” he noted.

Executive Secretary to the RTI Commission, Yaw Sarpong, gave a hint in his address that the Commission is set to open offices in all Metropolitan, Municipal, and District Assemblies (MMDAs) across the country.
He said the operationalization of offices in all MMDAs will help in the effective dissemination of educational materials to the door-steps of the citizenry while overseeing the effective implementation, enforcement, monitoring of the compliance to the RTI Law.

Sarpong however, urged the public to make good use of his outfit now that it has a well-established office. He said the commission will become redundant and ineffective despite all the wonderful policies put in place by the commission if the public does not support its work.

“Let me use this opportunity to appeal to the good people of Ghana to visit the commission regular to enquire into any issue concerning the RTI law and its implementation. Our doors are always opened, one does not need an appointment before coming to see anybody at the Commission,” stated.

The RTI Commission has the power resolve complaints through negotiations, conciliation, mediation or arbitration.