Access to information entrenches democracy
September 28, each year, is the International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI), set by the United Nations General Assembly. Access to information is thought to be one of the bedrocks of democracy.
Advertisement
Without the right to information, citizens are unable to participate meaningfully in any democratic endeavour.
In Ghana, the Day will be commemorated on October 1 and 2, 2024, with a meeting of public-private institutions, governmental and non-governmental agencies and international NGOs.
The meeting will be organised by the Right to Information Commission (RTI) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
The RTI Commission, with its partners, would be seeking to sensitise all to the fact that the right to information is a fundamental freedom of expression.
Thus, access to information in public institutions is imperative, and must play the “central role in legal frameworks that govern public institutions – across all levels – as well as public-private partnerships.”
The event will, therefore, focus on the different roles of partners in Ghana in ensuring that all individuals and entities are able to “seek, receive and relay information and engage in the democratic process.”
IDUAI in 2024 will be commemorated on the theme, “Mainstreaming Access to Information and Participation in the Public Sector.”
Other Trending Stories
Already, the message of the Director General of UNESCO, Audrey Azuolay, in commemoration of the day which falls today, Saturday, September 28, 2024, has underscored the need for all people to have “equal access to information.”
“This requires countries to adopt constitutional, statutory and political guarantees to make this possible. Currently, just over two-thirds of United Nations Member States have done so,” she said.
UNESCO, therefore, “works to promote access to information as a fundamental human right and a key driver of the Sustainable Development Goals.”
In Ghana access to information still has impediments even after the passage of the Right to Information Law.
Public institutions tend to put impediments in the way of journalists and those seeking information by classifying information sought as privileged; they also either delay requests for information or outrightly refuse to give out that information.
Usually, heads of public institutions have thought information to be the preserve of institutional heads, political elite and the government. Releasing information, for them, may mean the release of vital secrets that may ‘hurt’ their appointers.
Most public heads are also stuck to the oaths they swore to keep all information to their chest when they were appointed.
Most often, the Commission has had to rule on such matters, directing the release of information that such heads have previously refused to release.
The reconciliation of such oath of office and oath of secrecy found behind the 1992 Constitution with the new era of the Right to Information are like birth pangs in a new era of finesse and adeptness at releasing information willingly and not classifying all information as secrets.
The Daily Graphic commends the RTI Commission and UNESCO for the meeting and engagement with public institutions.
The paper expresses the hope that the meeting would breathe a fresh air of understanding into the workings of public institutions for the importance of the universal access to information to be embedded in all public and private institutions.
By that we would have institutions fully attuned to principles that enable a fully democratised nation.
Advertisement