The Right to Information (RTI) has significantly empowered media practitioners and civil society organizations (CSOs) to hold government and public institutions accountable, the Minister of Information, Fatimatu Abubakar, has said.

Speaking to journalists, she emphasized that the RTI had strengthened the ability of these groups to demand and access critical information, with non-compliance potentially leading to public embarrassment for the institutions involved.

Madam Fatimatu Abubakar noted that the RTI influence extends beyond public institutions to also include organizations receiving public funding.

To support the implementation of the RTI, over 350 RTI officers have been recruited and are now stationed across various ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to facilitate information processing.

As Ghana prepares for its elections in December, the Minister also underscored the growing concern over misinformation and disinformation.

She highlighted that the spread of false information was exacerbated by the lack of accurate facts and the rapid dissemination of misleading content.

In response to these challenges, the Information Minister disclosed that her outfit was working assiduously to collaborate more with fact-checking institutions who over the period had taken it upon themselves to fact-check.

“At the ministry, we have also come up with a digital repository in the form of the GhanaToday.gov.gh platform where all speeches by Presidents, Vice Presidents, Ministers and key public figures are uploaded. So, if you need access to the content of their speeches it shouldn’t be difficult. We have also used a platform to share important information about governments,” she said.

“It might also interest you to know that the Office of the Vice-President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has put together a technical team to correlate all the infrastructural projects and policies that have been executed at the various MDAs and MMDAs. That is why now we have another repository in the form of Government of Ghana Performance Tracker,” she added.

Madam Fatimatu Abubakar also addressed the pending National Action Plan and Broadcasting Bill, which are currently awaiting Cabinet approval before being submitted to Parliament.

She expressed the hope that Parliament would prioritize these bills, given their importance to stakeholders.

“As for Parliament, I do not have control over Parliament. We can only ask them to bear with us and also let them know that this bill has come in place because this is what our stakeholders want…so we can only ask that when it comes before the House, they treat it with the agency that it deserves so that it can pass into law,” she said.

Regarding the recently passed Affirmative Action Bill, Madam Fatimatu Abubakar clarified that the law was not intended to shift power disproportionately from men to women.

“It is not about that; rather, it is to look at areas where there are disadvantages, areas where there are gender biases, and see how best we can bring parity. So, I’m excited that in terms of leadership, representation and everywhere, we are going to resolve some of these challenges,” she said.