The government has recruited 250 Right To Information Officers to man RTI offices in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) across the country.
This is the second batch of officers recruited after the first batch was recruited in 2020 when the RTI Bill was passed on March 26, 2019, by Parliament and the President assented it into law on Tuesday, May 21, 2019.
As part of the process to assign the 250 officers to the MDAs, the Information Services Department, responsible for the RTI officers, organized a week orientation and training programme for the officers in Accra.
The Chief Information Officer of the Department, Mr David Owusu-Amoah, urged the general public to engage RTI officers on a professional basis devoid of ulterior motives in their pursuit to access information.
He stated that using unofficial means to access information from officers was against the RTI law.
Mr Owusu-Amoah admonished the RTI officers to work assiduously to complement the Department’s core mandate of disseminating government information in respect of the Right to Information Act.
He commended the Minister for Information for his untiring efforts in assisting to project the image of the Department to enable it to serve the interest of the government and the citizenry.
On her part, the Head of the Access to Information Division of the ISD, Dr Winifred Nafisa Mahama, urged the new RTI officers to discharge their duties as prescribed by the law.
“I urge you all to discharge your duties as RTI officers by serving applicants with diligence and timeliness as required by the Access to Information Law,†she said.
She expressed hope that the recruits would undertake their duties in a manner that met the expectations of the Ministry of Information, the Department and the country as a whole.
“To our Information Officers, I am sure that having been given this mandate of service, you will measure up to the confidence placed in you and will achieve even greater success in your service for the good of our country,†she stated.
Richard Aniagyei, ISD
