129 requests for information in 2021

Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of Information, says 129 requests for information were submitted by individuals and institutions in 2021.

He said out of the 129 applications received, 87 were from individuals and 42 from institutions.

“Although I am yet to present the Annual Report for 2021 in Parliament this year, permit me, Mr Speaker to brief Members of the House on the interim figures we have gathered so far from the Information Officers across public institutions,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah stated on the floor of Parliament in his response to a question by Mr Paul Apreku Twum-Barimah, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dormaa East.

The MP wanted to know from the Minister “How many individuals and institutions have made use of the Right To Information (RTI) Act to request information from the various public institutions.”

The Minister emphasised that the figures were provisional and that the annual report to be presented to Parliament in June would show the final figures.

It would be recalled that in 2019, Parliament passed the RTI Act, 2019 (Act 989), and it was assented to by the President.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah said the RTI Law’s full implementation began in 2020 and that they had made remarkable progress thus far.

He said from the time the implementation of the law commenced to date, a total of 223 RTI requests were received so far by public institutions.”

He noted that in 2020, a total of 85 requests for information were made by individuals and institutions and received by 32 public institutions.

He said out of 85 applications, 34 (40 per cent) were submitted by individuals while 36 (42 per cent) were institutions.

“My Office is still making all efforts to receive detailed information from some public institutions on 15 (18 per cent) of these submissions to determine the number of applications from individuals and institutions,” Mr Oppong Nkrumah said.

Touching on 2022 RTI Requests, the Minister said a total of 10 requests for information were submitted by individuals and institutions and received by seven public institutions at the end of January 2022.

He said out of the 10 applications received, five (50 per cent) were received from individuals while five (50 per cent) were received from institutions.

He said in every public institution’s website there was a template, which simplifies the request that was been made in accordance with the requirements of the RTI Act.

He encouraged applicants to adopt that template to make it very easy for them.

He said through the Access to Information Division of the Information Services Department, they were in the process of rolling out online record management system, which allows the websites of all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to have a tab for requesting for information, which request could be filled online and then sent directly to the RTI Officer at the appropriate MDAs to respond to.