Parliament, CHRAJ, SSNIT, others fined about GH¢5.6m for RTI violations

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• EMP 10 months ago

  But why refuse to give the information to the tax payer? What at all is the difficulty. I hope the president will take action and call these CEOs to order..abaah!

  But why refuse to give the information to the tax payer? What at all is the difficulty. I hope the president will take action and call these CEOs to order..abaah!

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• Andrew Asare-Nyako 2 months ago

  I understand that an amendment to the RTI law may require Information Officers to personally bear fines imposed for non-compliance. If true, care must be taken to ensure that the system does not unintentionally create incenti ...
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  I understand that an amendment to the RTI law may require Information Officers to personally bear fines imposed for non-compliance. If true, care must be taken to ensure that the system does not unintentionally create incentives for further obstruction or institutional shielding.
  
  Where significant interests are involved, there is a risk that penalties imposed solely on individual officers may not necessarily improve transparency or accountability in practice. For example, there may be situations where external interests indirectly absorb the consequences of non-compliance, thereby weakening the intended deterrent effect.
  
  For this reason, I believe responsibility should be shared institutionally. A first serious or unjustified denial of access to information could trigger disciplinary consequences, reassignment from the Information Officer role, and partial financial liability. The institution itself should also bear part of the penalty so that accountability extends to leadership and organisational culture.
  
  In addition, the RTI Commission should maintain a current public register of defaulting institutions online for easy public access. The register should include details of non-compliance, the relevant Information Officers, and the heads of the affected institutions. Transparency itself can be a powerful accountability mechanism.

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