Out of the figure, 159 of the requested information were outrightly approved with seven being rejected.

This follows the submission of a report by 189 public institutions to the Commission with the Department of Children recording the highest request which stood at 34.

Mr Boateng made this disclosure at a forum organised by Star Ghana Foundation (SGF), a Civil Society Organisation (CSO) which sought to strengthen civic awareness of the implementation of the RTI Law and galvanise public interest in addressing the challenges and professing solutions.

It was organised in partnership with the Ghana Friends (GV) and the Ghana Development Community Association (GDCA) under the theme “Civic Society Reflections on the Implementation of the Right to Information Law in Ghana.”

According to the Executive Secretary, the Commission also received 24 applications for review out of which six written determinants were made, eight settled throughmediationwith the rest pending at various stages.

The reason for the reviews received,  Mr Boateng noted were due to refusal by public institutions to respond to requested information, denial of application for request to access information and dissatisfaction with responses received by applicants.

While acknowledging that access to information under the RTI had encountered certain challenges, Mr Boatengindicated that the Commission were putting in place certain measures to help address the problems.

“Since its implementation, the RTI Law has faced issues such as the refusal by Metropolitan Municipal District Assemblies (MMDAs) and other public institutions to provide citizens with information, difficulty in understanding the law due to language barrier among other things”, he said.

“In view of these, the Commission among other things is putting in place measures to translate the law into different local languages, add audios and videos for people living with disabilities and the visually impaired and a sensitisation programme for citizens,” he added.

Additionally, he pointed out that the Commission had obtained a fiat from the Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General to prosecute offenders with a prosecution training programme for staff in the offing.

Mr Boateng, therefore, urged the public to take advantage of the RTI Law without fear of intimidation and report public officers who fail to provide them with information which was not an exemption under the Law.

In his remarks the Executive Director of SGF, Mr Ibrahim Tanko-Amidu explained that the Implementation of the RTI was vital in the active participation of citizens in the democratic governance.

However, he noted that despite the its enormous benefits the Law provides, its had faced some challenges such as the attitude of public officials towards individuals, institutions and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in obtaining information.

Mr Tanko-Amidu, therefore, called on CSOs and other stakeholders to help ensure that the Law achieved its purpose for which it was established.