The Right to Information (RTI) Commission has been charged to enhance public education on the Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989) to help the citizenry better appreciate the new law and how to invoke it in the exercise of their constitutional right to information.
At an event in Accra to commission the headquarters of the RTI Commission, Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, commended the seven-member governing board of the commission for the work done so far since its inauguration in October 2020.
He however said there are other key areas that need to be given priority including the need to enhance their public education drive.
Mr Nkrumah said there is the need to “step up the public education requirement as imposed on you by law so that more and more people can know about the functioning of the RTI Act and how to access it”.
Section 40 of the Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989) which came into effect on January 2, 2020, provides for the establishment of a Commission. That commission, the act specifies, must by its nature be a body corporate and independent (Sections 42) in the performance of its functions.
Read: Right to Information Act effective today: What does it mean?
The objects of the commission which are supposed to be achieved through the performance of its functions by a governing board have been specified in Section 41 as follows;
“The object of the Commission is to
a) promote,
b) monitor,
c) protect, and
d) enforce
the right to information that is granted a person under paragraph (f) of clause (1) of Article 21 of the constitution and the provisions of this Act”.
The Minister also implored the commission to continue to work with the Information Ministry to complete and lay before Parliament the Legislative Instrument (L.I) required to make the law fully operational.
Executive Secretary had mentioned last week on TV3’s Midday Live that processes are far advanced for the completion of the draft L.I. Even though he admitted that the L. I was an integral part of the law, he said its absence does not stall the operationalization of the RTI law.
By P.D Wedam|3news.com|Ghana