Institutional culture of silence and secrecy hindering RTI law implementation – Kojo Oppong Nkrumah

The Information Minister and Member of Parliament for Ofoase-Ayirebi Constituency, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has revealed a significant hurdle in the implementation of the Right To Information Law (RTI), citing the institutional culture of silence and secrecy as a key challenge hindering the law’s compliance and success.

Speaking at the Public Forum on the Implementation of the RTI ACT 2019-2023, held under the theme “Three Years of the Right to Information Implementation – Ghana’s Journey so Far,” Minister Oppong Nkrumah acknowledged the progress made in the three years since the enactment of the RTI Law.

However, he stressed the need to address the cultural barriers within public institutions that impede the full embrace of the law.

“The institutional culture of silence is a behavioral change challenge affecting the law’s implementation. Public institutions are accustomed to working within a certain culture of secrecy, which hampers the transparent sharing of information as mandated by the RTI Law,” the Information Minister declared in his opening speech at the forum.

Mr. Oppong Nkrumah highlighted the challenge of ignorance of the law and deliberate refusal by some public agencies to provide information due to fears of embarrassment. This, he noted, has contributed to difficulties in effectively implementing the RTI Law.

Additionally, the minister addressed the delay in the passage of the legislative instrument (LI) as another significant obstacle to the law’s implementation.

He emphasized the crucial role of the Legislative Instrument in providing details about the nuances of the law and facilitating its proper execution. Without the LI, certain aspects of the law remain challenging to implement.

“The absence of the LI has led to challenges in areas such as the processing time for initial information requests and the response period for reviews by the Commission. These matters are yet to be fully sorted out,” he explained.

Discussing the incomplete rollout of information units across public institutions, the Information Minister attributed the shortfall to financial resource constraints. He disclosed that the Commission has faced difficulties in populating all public institutions with information officers due to limited resources.

In response to these challenges, Minister Oppong Nkrumah expressed the ministry’s commitment to collaborating with the Access to Information Department (ATI) of the Information Service Department (ISD) to implement technological measures that would address the barriers to RTI Law implementation.