Oppong Nkrumah: Public institutions have received 223 RTI requests
The Minister of Information, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has lauded the Right to Information (RTI) Commission for overseeing the implementation of the RTI law and making sure ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) respond to requests for information as stipulated by law.
According to him, the commission must be commended for ensuring that state institutions respond to individual and institutional requests for information unless otherwise exempted by law.
“The commission has shown a lot of resilient in taking very firm and tough decisions against MDAs that have not complied with the RTI law and I would like to commend the executive secretary and board of the commission for showing fidelity with the Act,” he said.
The minister said this during a presentation to Parliament on Tuesday (15 March) on the implementation status of the RTI law.
He said the law since its introduction has made remarkable progress noting that from the time the implementation of the law commenced to date, a total of 223 RTI requests have been received so far by public institutions.
This he indicated that per interim figures collated from the various RTI offices of state institutions in 2021 alone, a total of 129 requests for information were submitted by individuals and institutions and were received by 47 institutions. Out of this number, 87 were received from individuals while 42 were received from institutions.
In 2022, however, Nkrumah said a total of 10 requests for information were submitted by individuals and institutions and received by seven public institutions as at the end of January, 2022. Out of the 10 applications received, five (50%) were received from individuals while five (50%) were received from institutions.
In his final remarks, the minister admonished the commission to intensify their public education on the law. He said though the commission has done remarkably well in implementing the law, one thing that it needs to improve is it public education to increase awareness around the law.
