The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Sulemana Braimah, has charged journalists to use the RTI law in fighting corruption.
Speaking at a 3-day training session for journalists on the Right To Information (RTI) Act, 2019 (Act 989), Mr. Braimah said despite decades of advocacy for the passage of the RTI law, it has not been effectively used since its enactment in 2019.
Addressing participants at a training session organized by the Media Foundation for West Africa, he said:
“If it took two decades to advocate for the Right to the Information Law, then it is important that once the law is in place now, we as journalists do what it is that we have to do to justify why it was important to fight for one law close to two decades.”
He therefore advised journalists to actively use the RTI law in seeking accountability and transparency.
“The promise was that once the law is in place, we (MFWA) will work with journalists to make good use of the law to work on issues that are critical for our population and also issues that will empower our people; bring about accountability and transparency, and also help in the fight against corruption.”
Mr. Sulemana Braimah explained that “even though the Right to Information Law isn’t a law specifically for journalists, if we study, understand, and use it, this would help to inspire confidence in our people in terms of the dwindling trust in journalism.”
He asserted that this law can “help promote the culture of accountability and transparency that is literally absent from our governance and civic space. It is one thing I am sure will help cotribute towards the fight against corruption.”
A lawyer and lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Journalism, Mr. Zakariah Tanko Musah, on the first day of training took participants through the Right to Information Law (989) in Ghana, and the information request processes.
The 3-day training seeks equip participants with indepth knowledge on the Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989), which was assented to by the President Akufo-Addo on May 21, 2019.
