Accra, Mar 16, GNA – Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of Information, says 129 requests for information were submitted by individuals and institutions and received by 47 public institutions in 2021.
He said out of the 129 applications received, 87 were received from individuals while 42 were received from institutions.
“Although I am yet to present the Annual Report for 2021 in Parliament this year, permit me, Mr Speaker to brief Members of the House on the interim figures we have gathered so far from the Information Officers across public institutions,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah stated on the floor of Parliament in his response to a question by Mr Paul Apreku Twum-Barimah, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dormaa East.
The MP wanted to know from the Minister, “How many individuals and institutions have made use of the Right To Information (RTI) Act to request information from the various public institutions.”
The Minister emphasized that the figures were provisional and that the final figures would be contained in the annual report that would be presented to Parliament by June 2022.
It would be recalled that in 2019, Parliament passed the RTI Act, 2019 (Act 989), and it was assented to by the President.
Mr Oppong Nkrumah said the RTI Law’s full implementation began in 2020, and that they had made remarkable progress thus far.
He recalled that on June 30, 2021, he presented the maiden RTI Annual Report to Parliament, and delivered a statement on the floor of the House.
“Mr Speaker, 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,” he said.
He noted that in 2020, a total of 85 requests for information were made by individuals and institutions and received by 32 public institutions.
He said out of 85 applications, 34 (40 per cent) were submitted by individuals while 36 (42 per cent) were institutions.
“My Office is still making all efforts to receive detailed information from some public institutions on 15 (18 per cent) of these submissions to determine the number of applications from individuals and institutions,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah said.
Touching on 2022 RTI Requests, the Minister 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.
He said out of the 10 applications received, five (50 per cent) were received from individuals while five (50 per cent) were received from institutions.
He said on every public institution’s website there was a template, which simplifies the request that was been made in accordance with the requirements of the RTI Act.
He encouraged applicants to adopt that template, for easy application.
He said through the Access to Information Division of the Information Services Department, the process of rolling out online record management system was on course.
It would allow the websites of all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to have a tab for requesting for information, which request could be filled online and then sent directly to the RTI Officer at the appropriate MDAs for response.
Source: Ghana News Agency