Ghana - Analysis of the Right to Information Bill,

The Bill’s very short Preamble states that the purpose of the Act is “to provide for the implementation of the constitutional right to information held by a public body, subject to the exemptions that are necessary and consistent with the protection of the public interest in a democratic society, to foster a culture of transparency and accountability in public affairs and to provide for related ma. [...] The guarantee of the right of access in section 1(1), although it is based on the Constitution, fails to make it clear that the law creates a specific presumption in favour of access to information held by public bodies, subject only the regime of exceptions set out in the law. [...] Section 78(2) excludes a number of activities from being subject to fees – including the time it takes to review requests and to prepare to provide access to information – but it is not entirely clear that the time spent locating the information may not be subject to a fee, while international standards limit fees to the costs of providing and sending the information. [...] This includes an obligation to inform the The Centre for Law and Democracy is a non-profit human rights organisation working internationally to provide legal expertise on foundational rights for democracy - 7 - Ghana: Analysis of the Right to Information Bill, 2018 requester that the information is not held and to refer the requester to another institution or to transfer the request where the publ. [...] Article 70 gives the President a lot of power over the appointments process, and this is exacerbated by section 57(2) of the Bill, whereby the President also appoints the Commission’s Executive Secretary, and section 60 of the Bill, whereby the President appoints the Secretary of the Board, in both cases in accordance with Article 195 of the Constitution.