79.6% Ghanaians, Mostly Ashantis Choose RTI Law Over Special Prosecutor—Survey

An anti-corruption survey report by a civil society group, Penplusbytes indicates that Ghanaians prefer the Right to Information Bill (RTI) to the Office of the Special Prosecutor (OSP).

According to the report, a majority of Ghanaians are of the view that the passage of the RTI Bill will achieve better results in the fight against corruption.

The report noted that 79.6percent of Ghanaians especially those surveyed in the Ashanti Region tipped the Right to Information Bill overOSP which scored 56percent.

The report also dubbed, The METOGU project indicated that8 out of 10 respondents (79.6%) thinkRTI law is a basic requirement for the fight against corruption whilst 20.4% of the respondents dissented.

According to the report, 75.2% of the respondents think the law will help in the disclosure and access to information concerning corrupt practices indicating that it will be better than what the OSP would achieve.

The METOGU report added that more than two-thirds (73.1%) of respondents were of the view that if the bill was passed into law, access to critical information in the fight against corruption would be relatively easy.

However, one-third of the respondents said such an access will not be possible, says the report.

Probing further to find out if the OSP can actually curb the menace of corruption, more than half of the respondents (56%) said they believed that the office of the Special Prosecutor can address the problem of corruption whilst one-third of the respondents (29.8%) felt the office of the Special Prosecutor cannot curb corruption in the public sector.

One of the key promises of the NPP government in the run up to the 2016 election in Ghana was the creation of the office of the Special Prosecutor to fight corruption. This office, in the view of the NPP, is necessary given the myriad of corruption allegations, such as the bus branding saga, GYEEDA, SUBAH and SADA, among other allegations of wrongdoing, that were made against the National Democratic Congress (NDC) when it was in office.

Participants Cast Doubts about Special Prosecutor

The concerns of the participants present a mixed bag though they indicate confidence in the OSP to fight the menace of corruption however, the prosecutorial powers of the Attorney General, which are derived from the 1992 Constitution, should be carefully looked so as to determine the proper functionality of the OSP is concerned.

In the Ashanti Region, participants said “Corruption cannot be stopped outright. It has not been done anywhere in the world and not in Ghana. But when we consider the person the President has given the mandate to handle corruption, his track record and the laws governing his appointment, I am very much sure he can work confidently and successfully. I also know that most politicians and the public officials at large are aware of his high level of integrity and commitment to fight corruption. However, it is the prosecutor who identifies and chooses the cases of his interests. If he is not interested in a particular case he will not investigate and prosecute. Therefore, his office cannot totally curb corrup­tion.”

Participants in Volta Region indicated that “The appointment of the Special Prosecutor is still at the behest of the Attorney General because the fourth republican constitution says that state prosecution is the mandate of the Attorney General, and the Attorney General is part of the government of the day who de­cides who to prosecute and who not to prosecute. It will, therefore, be difficult for this office to totally curb corruption.”

In the Western Region, participants noted that “The OSP cannot entirely uproot corruption because as long as the government workers are inadequately paid, they will continue to be corrupt though the OSP will serve as a deterrent to potential corrupt officials.

According to participants in Greater Accra, “I think when it comes to corruption in the public sector, there is already the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament and we have heard of instances where individuals dip their hands into the state coffers and we don’t get to know what was done to these indi­viduals. So I believe it’s going to be superfluous if we are going to put our hopes in this office to deal with these things when even in high profile cases we are unable to deal with it let alone cast our nets further into other government agencies and departments. In addition, the creation of CHRAJ had the same euphoria but never succeeded in solving corruption in the public sector. Moreover, public servants are smart and will always find a way out. Ghanaian leaders design systems to fail so they can have their way.”

Government Playing Jest with RTI Law
The talk about the RTI bill for the past two decades has rarely been accompanied by action. The verve and go-get-it energy dis­played by the NPP in the run up to the 2016 elections has been missing in the way the RTI bill is being treated.

Meanwhile, this is one bill that can complement the Whistle Blowers Act in getting information and exposing corrupt acts by ordinary citizens. This promise can be rated as still in the works because the bill has been downgraded from “urgent” to “ordinary” status in the Legisla­ture. One does not know when it will be passed into law.

The report emphasized that the RTI bill may not necessarily make it easier for citizens to access information on matters of national security for instance, however, the transparency clause will ensure that citizens can access key information that may connect with corrupt acts.

The Right to Information Bill which was first drafted in 1999 has been on the drawing board since 2003 and many Ghanaians have become skeptical of parliament ever passing the bill into law.

A recent further reinforcement of this skepticism was the President’s assertion on the 61st Independence Day celebration that the bill will be passed into law before parliament rises’.

This did not hap­pen. In fact, the bill was laid before Parliament on March 23, 2018. However, it was withdrawn and had to be re-laid because the legislative arm of government deemed it, ‘not an urgent issue’.

Why the RTI Law
The study tried to find out if the Right to Information Bill if passed into law would ensure that Ghanaians have access to public information from relevant agencies.

According to the study, more than two-thirds (73.1%) of respondents think that, if the bill is passed into law, access to critical information in the fight against corruption will be relatively easy.

However, the remaining one-third thinks such an access will not be possible. To buttress the need to have access to relevant information in the fight against corruption, the discussants at the focused group discussants explained that “one step towards the fight against corruption is an investigative work. If RTI bill is not passed, it will even render the office of the SP irrelevant since he cannot go / send people to fetch information for him as the institutions cannot be compelled to release the said infor­mation (Ashanti Region).”