Right to Information marks Open Government Week
The Right To Information Commission (RTIC) has held a forum climax this year’s Open Government (Open Gov) Week, which is observed from May 18 to May 22 each year.
The Open Gov Week forum at RTIC featured a roundtable panel discussion on the theme: " Towards an Open Governance System: Role of the RTIC”.
The Open Gov Week is an initiative of a global organisation, the Open Government Partnership (OGP), that brings together governments, civil society and citizens to celebrate openness, transparency and collaboration in public life. It is also a week when governments open their doors, both online and offline, to share, listen and collaborate with citizens.
Obligation
Speaking at the forum to climax the week-long activities celebrating the week in Ghana, the Executive Secretary of the RTIC, Genevieve Shirley Lartey, reiterated the commission's commitment to upholding the tenets of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), including transparency, civic participation, public accountability and technology and innovation.
She said Ghana’s membership of the OGP represented deliberate and meaningful efforts to build a governance culture in which access to information was not treated as a privilege but recognised and upheld as a fundamental right essential to accountability, citizen empowerment and inclusive governance.
The RTIC executive secretary disclosed that the commission’s obligation under the OGP provided an important platform for translating its statutory mandate into practical and measurable reforms.
She stated that under the National Action Plan (NAP5), the commission had undertaken key commitments, including supporting the passage of the regulations to operationalise the Right To Information Act, conducting 110 compliance exercises and developing education, information and communication materials for public awareness.
Ms Lartey called on the staff of the commission to continuously ensure that the values “we advocate externally, including transparency, accountability and responsiveness, are equally embedded within our internal institutional culture.”
Accountability, transparency
The OGP focal person at the commission, Michael Sakyiama, said Ghana had been part of the global OGP community since 2016, with the commission joining in 2023, bringing the number of member countries to over 75 and local governments to 150 worldwide.
In a related development, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Caucus on Open Government Partnership and Member of Parliament for Ho West, Emmanuel Kwasi Bedzrah in a message to mark the 2026 annual Open Gov Week, expressed his appreciation to the government and people of Ghana for being members of the global community aimed at ensuring rule of accountability, probity, inclusivity anchored on the free and unimpeded access to information.
“No doubt open government is a cornerstone of a strong democracy and as the OGP marks its 15th anniversary this year, we hope Ghana's involvement and participation will help lead strengthen the chosen path of transparency, participation and innovation,” Mr Bedzrah stated.
