RTI COMMISSION ENGAGES KEY STAKEHOLDERS IN NORTH EAST REGION, AS PART OF NATIONWIDE SERIES OF REGIONAL LECTURES/FORA ON THE RTI ACT.

A Team of the Right To Information (RTI) Commission, as part of a nationwide exercise of engagement with stakeholders, at Regional levels to sensitse and educate on the Right To Information Act, 2019(Act 989) in the sixteen constituent regions, ended in the North East Region on the 15th November, 2023, at the Nalerigu Senior High School in Nalerigu, the Regional Capital.

After being warmly received by the Regional Minister, Hon. Yidana Zakaria at the RCC and the Overlord of the Mamprugu Traditional Area, king Bohagu Abdulai Mahami at his Palace, the Public lectures/fora on the Right To Information Act took place at the designated venue, where participants were drawn from the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the Region, the Mamprugu Traditional Council and Regional House of Chiefs, Secondary and Tertiary Educational Institutions in the Region, The Security Services, Civil Society Organisations and Nongovernmental organisations. Other participants were drawn from the Regional Association of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) among other members of the general public.

Board Chairman of the Commission, Justice Rtd. K.A Ofori-Atta, informed in his opening remarks that, by passing and adopting the RTI Law, Ghana is the 134th country in the world to have passed the RTI law.
He added that, the passage of the RTI Law, cardinally, is to provide checks and balances cardinal tool to route out corruption and promote transparency, accountability and public confidence in the country’s governance system.
The Executive Secretary of the Commission, lawyer Yaw Sarpong Boateng, when he took his turn to engage participants, noted that the right to information is guaranteed in the 1992 constitution and underscored that information is life and that, until one has urgent need for information and doesn’t get it, one will then value the importance of access to information.
This right, he said, covers not only Ghanaians but everyone within the territories of Ghana. He added that, any applicant who is duly granted an application and uses the information for any criminal endeavours, will be held liable to all related sanctions prescribed under the Act, therefore all successful applicants must exercise good judgement in the use of information provided them.
The Regional Minister, emphasized that, the RTI law has now been crystallised or cemented to encourage the promotion of good Governance within the private and public space in the country.
He strongly encouraged the public to hold public and private institutions to be accountable and transparent to the public, in whose interest they serve and are given that privilege, duty and responsibility.
He remarked that with the operationalization of the RTI Act, there will be a positve paradigm shift in the quality, efficiency and effectiveness in private and public service.