The Right to Information Commission (RTIC) has organised a sensitisation programme for the people of the Oti Region where they were educated on the RTI and its importance in deepening democratic practices and promote development of the country.
The programme was attended by media practitioners, students, chiefs, civil society groups, security personnel and heads of department and institutions in the region.
Speaking at the programme, the Executive Secretary of the RTIC, Mr Yaw Sarpong Boateng said his outfit would continue to educate the citizenry on their rights to get access to information through the RTI law, and to ensure that they made effective use of such information available to them for development.
Mr Sarpong, stressed that the Commission believed that the RTI law would enable the people to access information that could be of relevance to their development, and was quick to add that having access to information without difficulty was the objective of the law but more importantly was to put the information to effective use.
The Executive Secretary, explained that through regular education, it was becoming clear that the RTI did not come to collapse any institution in the country because under the law, the role of the heads of institutions was made clear to ensure that the law operates without any difficulty.
A Board Member of the Commission, Mrs Elizabeth Asare, noted for instance that students needed information to write long essays, and access to such a material should not be difficult for them because that was the essence of the RTI law and hoped that the law would make Ghana a better place for all through access to relevant and timely information.
Mrs Asare observed that access to information, without difficulties, should be considered as the right of citizens since they had already paid for it through the taxes that they paid and asked Ghanaians to test the law by accessing information needed to carry out their activities.
The Oti Regional Minister, Dr Joshua Makubu, commended the commission for the education on the RTI, which he observed would not only go a long way to deepen democratic practices in the country but also promote transparency and accountability at the various institutions.
Dr Makubu, noted that democracy could not thrive without free access to information by the people and said the RTI law was a clear demonstration of government’s preparedness to ensure effective participation of citizens in the governance system through easy access to information.
He believed that the RTI law, showed the commitment of government to deepen democracy and promote the culture of transparency, stressing that an informed citizen would be in the best position to contribute meaningfully to national development.
The Regional Minister, therefore, urged the RTIC to engage journalists and media practitioners on the RTI law to ensure that they would provide the citizens with accurate, adequate and reliable information, which was made available to them.
Some of the participants thanked the RTIC, for the education on the RTI law, which they said had made them to understand better the importance of the RTI and the need for them as Ghanaians to make effective use of it to help build a better country, that all would be proud of as citizens.
FROM SAMUEL AGBEWODE, DAMBAI
