Chieftaincy must be part of agencies covered by RTI Bill

Kumasi, Aug 5, GNA - The chieftaincy institution should be added to t= he public bodies covered by the Right to Information (RTI) Bill to make it mor= e accountable to the people.

Mr Francis Ameyibor, an Executive Member of the Coalition on the Right to Information, a civil society organization, who made the suggestion, explained that the situation where chiefs were not legally obliged to give account of the funds and resources they held on behalf of their subjects wa= s unacceptable.

This would have to change to allow for transparency, he said. He was speaking at a workshop held for selected journalists in Kumasi b= y the Coalition to deepen their understanding of the Bill which is before Parliament. Mr Ameyibor also raised concern about the silence of the Bill on recordkeeping, pointing out that without records the RTI would become illusory. He expressed dissatisfaction that proper recordkeeping had been on the back burner of many public agencies and private bodies.

He said it was important to make sure that the Bill reinforced the Ghan= a Public Records and Archives Administration Act, 1977 (Act 535). All agencies or bodies must manage information in a timely, safe and efficient manner, consistent with international best practices. Mr Ameyibor identified the numerous time extensions as another grey area, pointing out that, if passed into law in its present form, it could take an applicant more than half-of-a-year to receive information requested for.

He, therefore, called for the provision of different time frames for different types of information to be requested, saying, information bordering on life and liberty for example should not go beyond 48 hours. Again, he questioned the justification for applicants to bear the cost for time that it takes to retrieve information and said the fee structure was not user friendly.

Mr Ameyibor said Ghana should learn from the experiences of countries like South Africa and Uganda where the RTI is operating to avoid pitfalls.