The Ghana Education Service (GES) has been slapped with a GH¢10,000 administrative penalty by the Right to Information Commission (RTIC) for failing to respond to an RTI request from Corruption Watch Investigator Frederick Asiamah.

According to a 28^th January 2026 determination of the RTIC, the GES shall pay the penalty within (14) days of receiving the RTIC's determination.

"In default, an additional ten percent (10%) of the fine shall accrue for every fourteen (14) days thereafter," the Commission warned.

In addition, the Commission has directed that the GES should provide Asiamah "with access to the requested information within seven (7) days of receipt of this determination."

The RTIC served Asiamah with a copy of the ruling on Friday, 30^th January, 2026.

Background

Under the RTI law, a person may request information from a state or a qualifying private institution by writing a letter addressed to the Information Officer of the institution.

The Information Officer is to provide the information within 14 days if the information is not exempt.

If the Information Officer does not provide the information within 14 days, then the requester can appeal to the head of the institution, which gives the head of the institution 15 days to provide the information.

If the head of the institution does not provide the information, then the requester can file a complaint with the RTIC or the High Court.

Exercising his right under the law, Asiamah first requested information from the GES through a letter dated 23^rd January, 2025.

After the GES information officer failed to provide the information, Asiamah wrote an appeal to the Director-General of the GES on 25^th March 2025.

When the requested information was still not released, Asiamah applied to the RTIC for a review of the GES decision, culminating in the determination made by the RTIC on 28^th January 2026.

Repeat offences

The GH¢10,000 penalty is the third penalty imposed on the GES.

In the investigative documentary Saga over RTI published in September 2025, Corruption Watch revealed that the GES had previously been slapped with two penalties totalling approximately GH¢134,000.

The supervisory ministry for GES, the Ministry of Education, has also breached the law repeatedly in cases unrelated to requests by Corruption Watch.

In the 'Saga over RTI', Corruption Watch discovered that the ministry was among the five institutions to have paid the heaviest fines. It paid a total of GH¢260,000 for four penalties.

RTIC is cracking the whip

The 'Saga over RTI' revealed that some institutions are either refusing or failing to comply with the RTI law by denying access to information requested by citizens. This refusal or failure to provide the requested information has led to the imposition of fines by the RTI Commission (RTIC).

The records show that as of July 2025, the RTIC had imposed penalties of approximately GH¢5.6 million on about 60 separate institutions. However, only 23 erring institutions had paid approximately GH¢3.5 million as penalties to the RTIC for breaking the law.

More than 30 institutions collectively owed the RTIC an amount of GH¢2.15 million in unpaid penalties.