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Right to Information Law: a framework to combat corruption?

Dear Editor,

Over the years, journalists, civil society and anti-corruption advocates have campaigned for the passage of the Right to Information (RTI) Bill and argued that the inexistence of the law inhibits people from knowing what is happening in public institutions, and this breeds corruption.

Even though the right to information is a basic right enshrined in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana, it took decades for the country to promulgate the RTI to provide the legal framework for the implementation of the constitutional right to access information from public institutions.

After years of long winding parliamentary processes, the bill was finally passed on March 26, 2019 and assented to by President Nana Dankwa Akufo-Addo on May 21, 2019.

The Act explains the procedures for access to official information, and also highlights some exemptions.

From section five (5) to 17 of the RTI Act, 2019 (Act 989) is about information exempted from the Act, which include information for the President, Vice President or Cabinet.

Others are related to public safety, law enforcement, economic information of third parties, personal matters, parliamentary privilege, issues affecting international relations and security of the state.

Just like other critics of the Act, I also hold the view that some of the exemptions raise question over whether or not sections of the law could be a deliberate cover up for wrongdoings of public institutions or governments.

For instance, the section 10(f) in the Act exempts the disclosure of information where “the information contains questions or methodology to be used in an examination, recruitment or selection process and the release is likely to jeopardise the integrity of that examination, recruitment or selection process.”

Despite the use of public safety as an excuse to conceal wealth of public information, the Act recognises the principle of utility as it is stated in the section 17 (1) that, if the benefits of disclosure of the information outweigh the harm that disclosure will cost and it is of public interest, then the information is not exempted from disclosure.

Persons who have taken a closer look at the Act suggest there are too many exemptions that do not provide an enabling environment to assess public institutions and subject them to proper scrutiny to help fight corruption.

Even as public education on the law is gathering momentum, there have been calls for a review of the exemptions in the Act. Those that do not qualify the “harm and public interest” test be expunged.

Meanwhile, Parliament was yet to approve fees applicable to the request of public information under the Act. That must also be fast tracked.

Cinderella Arhinful-Mensah

Student, Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ)

News

Committee probing petitions against Chief Justice to begin hearings tomorrow

The Committee set up by President John Dramani Mahama to inquire into three petitions filec against the Chief Justice, Gertrude Araba Esaaba Sackey Torkornoo, will commence hearings tomorrow, Thursday May 15, 2025.

The five-member Committee chaired by Justice Gabriel Scott Pwamang of the Supreme Court, was set up by the President in accordance with Article 146(6) of the 1992 constitution and in consultation with the Council of State, following a determination of a prima facie case against the Chief Justice.

The committee will sit three times a week and present their recommendations to the President upon completion of their work.

It would be recalled that President John Dramani Mahama recently suspended Chief Justice following the establishment of a prima facie case in response to three separate petitions seeking her removal from office.

News

38-year-old man gets life imprisonment for killing Assemblies of God pastor in 2018

After close to seven years of trial, a seven-member jury on Wednesday, May 14, returned a guilty verdict in the murder case involving the killing of the Senior Pastor of the Central Assemblies of God church at Tema in 2018.

The convict, Francis Nabegmado, a relative of the deceased, inflicted a fatal knife wound on Rev. Dr. David Nabegmado on December 30, 2018, after alleging that the senior pastor was a false preacher who engaged in idol worship and human sacrifices.

After an hour of summing up by the judge, Mary Maame Ekue Yanzuh, the jury retired briefly and returned with a unanimous guilty verdict.

Based on the unanimous verdict of the jurors who had previously studied the statements of the five witnesses called by the prosecution, and listened to the summing up process, the judge sentenced the 38-year-old to life imprisonment.

When he was offered an opportunity to comment on the verdict, the convict told the judge that he wanted to go home to meet his family.

“My Lady, I want to see my family, and I want to be taken to Yendi”.

When the judge told him she couldn’t make such an order for him to go and see his family in Yendi, the convict forcefully said, “I insist”.

Francis, who will now spend the rest of his life at the Nsawam medium security prison, had told the court throughout the trial that the decision to attack his uncle, Rev. Nebegmado, was driven by insanity, but that did not save him from receiving a life sentence.

Speaking briefly after the sentencing, Senior Pastor of the Assemblies of God church at Tema Community 4, Rev. Emmanuel Kwesi Ofori, said the church has been waiting for this closure for the past seven years and will soon issue an official statement.

Source: Myjoyonline.com