We are under-resourced – RTI Commission

The Right To Information (RTI) Commission has bemoaned the lack of personnel and other resources needed to facilitate its work.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Executive Secretary of the Commission, Yaw Sarpong Boateng disclosed that the Commission lacks an office to operate from.

“Currently, we don’t even have staff,” he added.

That notwithstanding, he stated that the outlined challenges have not affected the efficiency of the Commission.

“The Commission has been working effectively in the background. We have not sat back to say that because we do not have an office we will fold our arms and complain but we have come up with a few statements here and there to curt public compliance,” he said.

The comments come on the back of discussions on the functions and impact of the RTI Commission since it was inaugurated by President Akufo-Addo in October 2020.

The Commission is mandated to ensure that state institutions provide the right information to the public as stated in the Right to Information Act, 2009.

However, it has been working under some very restrictive conditions.

Though a budget has been presented to Parliament and approved by the House, Vice-Chairperson, Elizabeth Asare said the funds are not able to sustain the activities of the commission. She, therefore, has called on authorities in charge for a review.

“We were expecting a foundational budget; something that will help us roll out RTI to the full,” she said. What we were given is woefully inadequate but it doesn’t that we wont work with it but we are hoping that in the course of rolling out the RTI, more funds will be available because there’s a lot of work to be done,” she said.

On his part, Private legal practitioner, member of the RTI Coalition, Zacharia Tanko Musah, said the Commission has not done enough in creating awareness on the new law.

He stated that this could result in citizens losing interest in the system.