Programme Overview
Ghana adopted its Right to Information Act (Act 989) in 2019 (twenty-seven years after the recognition of this right as a constitutional right) to provide the framework for the exercise of the right. The Act mandates public institutions not only to grant access to information requested, but also to proactively make available to the public general information on governance. The successful implementation of Act 989 including the task of transforming the culture of public administration into a more transparent and accountable one, would require greater commitment from the government including the judiciary. In particular, the judiciary, vested with the constitutional power to administer justice has a significant role to play in promoting and defending the right to information. This is affirmed by Article 36 (1) of Act 989, which affords access to information applicants the opportunity to apply to the High Court of Ghana for iudicial review on a decision on an RTI request. Enforcing the law requires judges to engage in the complex interpretation of laws including international and regional laws and best practices on the right to information. In this context, a well-resourced, well-equipped, and informed judiciary is essential to curtail failures by state actors in the discharge of their duties under the law. It is in respect of the above that the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and the Coalition on the Right to Information, Ghana in partnership with the Judicial Training Institute (JTI) has developed a training manual to support JTI's training programmes for judges on the right to information. The two day colloquium therefore seeks to provide a platform to use the developed training manual to increase the existing knowledge and understanding of selected High Court Judges on the right to information. This will include looking at international and regional legal frameworks on the right to information; the basic principles and best practices on the right to information and how these international standards should be interpreted and applied, when resolving disputes emanating from non-disclosure of information by duty bearers.