The Right to Information Commission (RTIC) has held a stakeholder forum in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region to sensitise the public on the Right to Information (RTI) law.
The Right To Information Commission seeks to facilitate the right access to information, promote and sustain awareness of the citizenry on their right of access to information and institutions in their obligation to disclose information.
Speaking to the media on the essence of the engagement, the executive secretary of the Right To Information Commission (RTIC), lawyer Yaw Sarpong Boateng, said the Commission is mandated under the RTIC Act to create awareness of the Right To Information law hence the need to engagement stakeholders in the Upper East Region on the RTIC law and mandate of public institutions under the law.
“It’s one of our functions under the Act to sustain continuous awareness of the Right to Information law within the country and we can only achieve this by organizing these education exercises across the country to engage citizens alike to become aware of their right and to help them to utilize this right in terms of the law.”
Boateng cautioned all public institutions that still do not have information officers, to as a matter of urgency recruit information officers because failure to do so contravenes the law and penalties could be levied on any organisation.
Touching on the setting up of an RTIC office in the Upper East Region, Boateng said, “There are preparations to set up an office in the Upper East Region. We have engaged with the Regional Coordinating Council who have promised to find out if there was some space available to help set up the Commission’s office.
“We are very hopeful that, that will happen very soon,” he added.
The Commission has embarked on public fora across the 16 regions of the country to sensitise the public and public institutions on the provisions of the Right To Information law and how individual and public institutions can take advantage of the law to foster democratic principles in the country.
The forum in Bolgatanga had in attendance representatives from the Upper East Regional Coordinating Council, the National Road Safety Commission, the Lands Commission, the Ambulance Service, the Narcotics Control Commission, the National Sports Authority, Ghana Highways Authority and the Ghana Education Service.
The rest were, the Ghana Fire Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Federation of Disability, students, the media and other notable institutions across the country.
Reporting by Senyalah Castro in the Upper East Region
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