Right to information is crucial for good governance - Ms Botchway

Accra, Sept. 30 GNA - Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, Deputy Minister of Information, has said the Right to Information Act (RIA) when operational would curb secrecy that bred corruption, abuse of power and mismanagement in public and private sector administrations. She said the Act would place considerable responsibilities on the civil society and public services in general for the provision of information on policies, programmes and activities of government. A statement issued in Accra in Accra on Friday by Mr D.A. Kwapong, Acting Director of the Information Services Department, said Ms Botchway was addressing the staff and students of the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College (GAFSC) in Accra.

The course, which is being attended by 27 military officers from Ghana and other African countries, including Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Rwanda, is on theme: "Government Communication Policy". Ms Botchway said the onus now rested with Ministries, Departments and Agencies and other public bodies to improve their capabilities in processing, storing and retrieving public information for swift and efficient delivery to parties that required it.

She said in this age of rapid development of communication technology, the relevance of public institutions would be severely tested in the demand for information as prescribed by the Act. The Deputy Minister threw light on government's response to the promotion of ICT in its quest for good governance and development through dissemination of information.

She mentioned the installation of Local Area Network (LAN) within the MDAs to facilitate efficient internal information management as well as develop the soft and hardware industry.

The Deputy Minister also presented books worth 200,000 dollars donated by the African Security Dialogue and Research to the College library.