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Proceedings of the Information for Accountability Workshop, Ghana

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Proceedings of the Information for Accountability Workshop, Ghana International Records Management Trust PROCEEDINGS OF THE INFORMATION FOR ACCOUNTABILITY WORKSHOP held at The British Council Ghana Auditorium 30-31 August 2000 Accra, Ghana organised by Ghana Integrity Initiative and Rights and Records Institute, The International Records Management Trust The Westminster World Foundation for Bank Democracy Danish Trust Fund for Proceedings of the Information for Accountability Workshop Edited by Dawn Routledge, Kimberly Barata and Piers Cain Designed by Jennifer Leijten 30 - 31 August 2000 Organised by Ghana Integrity Initiative (local chapter of Transparency International) and Rights and Records Institute, International Records Management Trust Sponsored by World Bank Danish Trust Fund for Governance, British Council Ghana and Westminster Foundation for Democracy Published by the International Records Management Trust in collaboration with the Ghana Integrity Initiative (local chapter of Transparency International) and sponsored by the World Bank Danish Trust Fund for Governance, the British Council Ghana and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. September 2000 © The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/THE WORLD BANK 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, DC. 20433, USA Produced by the International Records Management Trust 12 John Street London WC1N 2EB United Kingdom Printed in the United Kingdom Enquiries concerning reproduction and requests for additional materials should be addressed to: International Records Management Trust RIGHTS AND RECORDS INSTITUTE 12 John Street London WC1N 2EB United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)20 7831 4101 Fax: +44 (0)20 7831 7404 e-mail: [email protected] http://www.irmt.org ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The relevant and important issues addressed at this workshop resulted in our receiving the backing of a number of organisations. The organisers and participants in the workshop wish to extend their thanks to both the sponsors and the funding bodies for their support: The Danish Trust Fund for Governance, administered by the World Bank, the British Council Ghana and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy. We would also like to thank the Commonwealth Secretariat for enabling Professor Tom Riley to participate as a speaker and facilitator. The support and courtesy extended by the officials of the Republic of Ghana, Members of Parliament, members of the media, professional and civil society organisations, and their willingness to explore a wide range of complex issues made the workshop productive and enjoyable. The organisers would particularly like to thank the following individuals for their kind advice and assistance: Hon. John Mahama, Minister of Communications; Dr Robert Dodoo, Head of Civil Service; Mr Cletus Azangweo, Director of the Public Records and Archives Administration Department; Mr Emile Short, Mr Yaw Asamoah and Mr William Nyarko of the Ghana Integrity Initiative; Mr Terence Humphreys and his staff of the British Council Ghana. We should also like to thank Mr Mike Stevens, World Bank Task Manager for the project and Mr Jeremy Pope, Executive Director of Transparency International, for their contributions to the design and delivery of the project. Special appreciation is extended to Mrs Angeline Kamba, former Public Service Commissioner, Government of Zimbabwe; Dr Justus Wamukoya of Moi University in Eldoret, Kenya; Dr Pino Akotia of the University of Ghana at Legon and Professor Tom Riley, Executive Director of the Commonwealth Centre on Electronic Governance. Piers Cain Director, Rights and Records Institute ORGANISING COMMITTEE Ghana Integrity Initiative Rights and Records Institute, IRMT Emile Short, Chairman Piers Cain, Director Yaw Asamoa, Executive Secretary Kimberly Barata, Research Manager William Nyarko, Board Member Dawn Routledge, Research Assistant Pino Akotia, Research Adviser Angeline Kamba, Research Adviser TI International Justus Wamukoya, Research Adviser Jeremy Pope, Executive Director World Bank British Council Ghana Mike Stevens, Task Manager Terence Humphreys, Director Peter Riddelsdell, Assistant Director Angela Joy Sampson, Projects Officer TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword 1 Piers Cain, Director, Rights and Records Institute, IRMT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3 INTRODUCTION TO THE WORKSHOP Workshop Objectives and Programme 5 Workshop Facilitators: Biographies 8 List of Participants 10 OPENING CEREMONY Introduction 15 Keynote Address 16 Hon John Mahama, Minister of Communications SESSION ONE Introduction 19 Access to Information and Civil Service Reforms 21 Dr Robert Dodoo, Head of the Civil Service Access to Information: The Perspective of the Press 33 Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, Ghana Journalists Association The State of the Law Relating to Access to Information 37 Professor Kofi Kumado, Faculty of Law, University of Ghana Discussion Summary 42 SESSION TWO Introduction 44 Round Table Discussion: The Need for a Freedom of Information Law in 46 Ghana Questions to Panellists 53 Discussion Summary 57 Chair’s Closing Remarks 59 Professor Nana Apt, Director, Centre for Social Policy Studies SESSION THREE Chairman’s Introductory Remarks 61 Professor Patrick Twumasi, Chair, Civil Service Council Introduction 62 Information for Accountability Workshop 64 Bernard Joao da Rocha, Fellow, Institute of Economic Affairs Freedom of Information and the Right to Know: Accessing Government 67 Documents Professor Tom Riley, Executive Director, Commonwealth Centre for Electronic Governance Discussion Summary 82 SESSION FOUR Introduction 84 Civil Service Culture and Access to Information 86 K Obeng-Adofo, Chief Director, Office of the Head of Civil Service Records Management and Information Delivery 91 C. A. Azangweo, Director, Public Records and Archives Administration Department Discussion Summary 104 CLOSING CEREMONY Closing Address 108 Desmond Woode, Second Secretary, UK Department for International Development Closing Remarks 111 Yongmei Zhou, Economist, The World Bank Closing Remarks 112 Terence Humphreys, Director, The British Council Ghana Closing Remarks 113 Piers Cain, Director, Rights and Records Institute, IRMT Closing Remarks 115 Emile Short, Chair, Ghana Integrity Initiative Chairman’s Conclusion and Vote of Thanks 116 Professor Patrick Twumasi, Chair, Civil Service Council WORKSHOP OUTCOMES Analysis of Attitude Survey Results 118 Key Outcomes 120 Press Release 122 Media Coverage 124 Annex One: Draft Right to Information ‘Bill’ 129 Annex Two: Quantitative Results of the Attitude Survey 148 Annex Three: Examples of Procedures 154 Annex Four: Resource Material 157 FOREWORD Good government requires the participation of citizens. For citizens to participate effectively the electorate must be well informed; and this means access to the facts about government activities. A free flow of information about what the government is doing on behalf of its citizens and how taxes collected from citizens are spent is essential for accountable government. There is an assumption that governments are maintaining adequate records of their activities and that the citizen has reasonable access to the information contained in these records or direct access to the records themselves. Others have gone further and have argued that since government acts on the citizen’s behalf and is funded from taxes paid by citizens, the records created by government actually belong to the people. Thus the presumption ought to be that governments should make their records available to the public unless they can show good cause why they should be withheld, for example national security. These views are the conventional opinion in most western liberal democracies, particularly in the United States, where these rights are enshrined in the Constitution, and in Scandinavia where freedom of information laws date back to the eighteenth century. In other parts of the world interest in improving the flow of information between the government and the public is a much more recent phenomenon. In Ghana, every citizen has a constitutional right to information, yet there is no legislation or case law extant to clarify these rights. Tied to this, the public lacks awareness about how to obtain information, particularly from government. Part of the problem is that many public servants find it difficult to know whether information is confidential and therefore whether to allow access to it or not. Institutional mechanisms often serve to restrict access to information rather than facilitate it. The Government of Ghana has adopted a Civil Service Performance Improvement Programme (CSPIP) that aims to transform the public service by changing its capacity, systems and culture. The goal is to deliver high quality public services under severe budgetary constraints. In recognising that it is a service delivery organisation, the government must accept that the demand for accountability will increase and, as a consequence, it will need to allow citizens to question actions taken on their behalf. The aim of the Information for Accountability Workshops project is to stimulate a closer link between information supply and demand in the public sector. The workshops are designed not only to encourage civil society to articulate their needs for information from government, but also focus the attention of policy makers, opinion formers and senior civil servants on the need to strengthen records management systems as a primary delivery mechanism to supply that demand. The Rights and Records Institute of the International Records Management Trust and Transparency International are working together to achieve this objective. The Information
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