Audit of Key Legislation in Ghana for Information Access Opportunities

The focus of this research is to examine existing Ghanaian sources of law relating to access to information. While article 21(1)(f) of the Constitution of the Republic of Ghana guarantees every person “the right to information subject to qualifications and such laws as are necessary in a democratic society,” there is no enabling legislation relating to the subject of access to information yet. At the time of writing this report, a Right to Information (RTI) Bill is under consideration by Parliament. In the absence of such an enactment, however, there are sources of law that support, facilitate or grant access to certain government documents, and information on public officials and political figures, etc. These are found in the Constitution itself, Acts of Parliament, subsidiary legislation, etc. It is hoped that a collation of this  information can serve a useful purpose for civil society activists in their efforts to access critical information which may be used to hold government accountable and to make claims and demands on the government as well as relevant non-state actors.

While they can be used in the interim, pending the passage of a RTI law, they can also be used as a standard to measure the access rights that the new law would guarantee Ghanaians. Identifying these provisions is also useful for the purpose of harmonising all access provisions into a uniform access regime when the proposed RTI Bill becomes law.