Freedom of Information – The Case of Ghana

The global trend towards the adoption of Freedom of Information (FOI) laws as the bedrock of true democratic dispensation is slowly gaining momentum in the African continent. With a total of three countries having FOI laws and nine more countries in the process of considering Bills, there is a promising progression towards entrenching FOI legal frameworks in Africa.

Ghana has been touted as a leader on the African continent, however, this profile has not been strongly exhibited in the FOI movement since the state is yet to promulgate a specific law to protect the peoples’ right to information. Ghana is a state party to a number of international and regional human rights instruments obligating the passage of FOI laws such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption.

At the national level, Article 21 (1) (f) of the 1992 Constitution, provides that all persons have the right to information (RTI) subject to such qualifications and laws as are necessary in a democratic society, but 16 years since the current Constitution came into operation, a law to operationalise this provision has still not materialised.

In 2002, the Government made attempts to provide a legal framework on the right to information in a draft Bill with a provision extending the scope of the Bill to private bodies. This Bill was later reviewed in 2003, 2005 and in 2007 following civil society concerns on some of the existing discrepancies in the Bill. Some of these included: long timelines within which to process information requests, the lack of independent review and enforcement mechanisms, exorbitant fee requirements and cumbersome application procedure.

Despite numerous reviews, the current Bill still falls short of international best practice standards. In 2005 the inclusion of private bodies obliged to provide information access under the Bill was, for no sound reason, removed creating a serious drawback on the strength of the government-sponsored Bill. The Bill has further been compromised by the continued retention of the Attorney-General, the Government chief legal advisor, as the primary implementing organ of the Bill indicating a conflict of interest. This will potentially subvert the objective of the Bill to protect the public’s right to information. These inadequacies have therefore compelled civil society advocates to collectively advocate for a revised model law on freedom of information in Ghana.

The Coalition on the Right to Information, Ghana, spearheaded by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative Africa Office and various influential civil society organisations and interest groups have been on the fore front in advocating for the passage of the RTI law in Ghana.

Established in 2003, the Coalition has sought to promote enhanced accountability and transparency in Government, as well as greater participation in the democratic process through advancing the need for the right to information legislation. The Coalition has since its inception undertaken a series of advocacy activities including regional workshops in Ho, Cape Coast, Kumasi, Sunyani, Koforidua and Takoradi, focus-group discussions with religious groups in Accra, formulated simplified publications on the right to information and issued media releases for public education. The Coalition has also endeavored to serve as a civil society lobbying agent during high-profile meetings with the Parliamentary select committee on Legal and Constitutional affairs, the Deputy Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General’s department. The focus of such meetings has been to advise Government on the content of the Bill to make it into an effective and clearly worded Statute.

The Coalition has also built strong networks in the African region as a member of the Steering Committee of the Africa Freedom of Information Centre based in Lagos, Nigeria. In July 2007, CHRI, Africa office, the Coalition Secretariat, hosted an African Regional Conference on Freedom of Information with participants from different parts of the Commonwealth region and called on the Ghana Government to pass the FOI law as a matter of urgency. The very next day, the Government issued a press statement announcing the appointment of Justice VCRAC Crabbe, a former Justice of the Supreme Court as the commissioner tasked to review the Bill and collect public views on the Bill. The Coalition later met and shared its views with Justice Crabbe, a Statute Law Commissioner, and submitted a critique to him during a strategic meeting that took place on the ‘Right to Know’ day on September 28, 2007. The Coalition has since been closely collaborating with the Commissioner.

Recognising the public as the primary beneficiaries of the RTI law, the Coalition has focused on public awareness campaigns. Coalition activities are funded by a grant from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, which is for the adoption and implementation of a comprehensive advocacy strategy for the promulgation of the right to information legislation in Ghana. The advocacy plan has been designed to increase outreach programs to the masses at the grassroots level with the aim of promoting public awareness on the relevance of the RTI law to peoples’ daily lives. This effort has also necessitated broadening the base of the Coalition, which has extended its membership to organisations promoting good governance in the different regions of Ghana. This is meant to build a wide network of partners that is strong and sustainable to collectively spearhead the advocacy campaign nationwide.

With the recent increase in Coalition membership, the Coalition with support from the World Bank, organised a National Advocacy Training Conference on freedom of information in June 2008 targeted at key civil society organisations forming the Coalition.

The Conference acted as a capacity building event to bolster the expertise and capacity of Coalition members, providing them knowledge, skills and techniques on RTI advocacy that they will utilise in their own local advocacy campaigns. Participants gained innovative ideas on RTI advocacy strategies that have successfully been applied in other jurisdictions like Nigeria, South Africa and India. Renowned local speakers with wide experience in public policy processes and effective advocacy techniques resourced the workshop. The Conference also provided a platform for participants to articulate key strategies on how to spread the advocacy campaign nation-wide and build consensus on advocacy strategies that will more effectively pressurise the Government towards the passage of the Right to Information legislation and push for its effective implementation in Ghana once passed into law. With the Coalition’s activities, it is projected that Ghana is poised for a Right to Information legal framework soon that would help entrench its democratic culture and tradition and maintain the nation’s exemplary position on the continent.