Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has described as disappointing the sharp decline in the use of the Right to Information (RTI) Act to access public information.

According to him, only 10 applications have been received this year, which he says is in sharp contrast with the average number of 32 recorded quarterly since the passage of the Bill.

Answering a question on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday, March 15, the Ofoase Ayirebi lawmaker charged the media to resort to the use of the RTI Act instead of resorting to speculations.

“To our colleagues in the media, we want to encourage a lot more use of the RTI Act and a lot less resort to speculation and hearsay. The RTI Act grounds you to, by law, get access to information for purposes of media work as well.

“For all the amount of money that has been spent, all the hours of executive and parliamentary times spent in legislating the RTI, it is a bit disappointing that even in subsequent years, these are the very few numbers of requests that have come through. I encourage various stakeholders to employ the Act to access information,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah said.

He stated that going forward, government and relevant agencies “need to do a lot of public education and advocacy to get a lot more people aware that the RTI Act is in full operation and you can now access it.”

“For 2020, 72 applications were granted; six were rejected, three were transferred, three were referred, and one was deferred. For 2021, 95 applications were granted, seven rejected, six transferred, 17 referred, two deferred and two reviewed.

“For the year 2022, so far, out of the 10 that have been received, eight have already been granted, one has been rejected, and one has been referred to the appropriate ministry, department or agency to respond to it,” he added.

Academic communities

The Information Minister charged students and educational institutions to equally make effective use of the RTI Act for their projects and dissertations.

“May I take the advantage to reach out to the entire country, particularly the academic community, to make use of the Act, to apply for information from public institutions. Many of our young people have complained about difficulties getting access to information when preparing their dissertations.

“The RTI gives you legal cover to apply for information from public institutions for purposes of academic exercises and dissertations.”

Meanwhile, he has appealed to the House to approve the fees accompanying the Act to address the discrepancies over the fees charged by some public institutions.