The Executive Secretary of the Right to Information Commission (RTIC), Yaw Sarpong Boateng has clarified that applicants who seek for information from the Commission do not pay for the generating of the information, but for the cost of reproduction of the information.
“Citizens don’t pay for the information, what you pay for is the reproduction of the information. If I apply for information and the institution has to give me the information in the form of a print, you must understand that it costs the agency some money to print a document for you and therefore, what you pay is the cost of the print- if it’s a photocopy, you pay the cost of a photocopy”, he told Kwaku Dawuro the host of Movement In The Morning Show.
He explained that the fees and charges Act for 2022 has been passed by Parliament, and one will find out that what the Right to Information Commission has proposed for agencies to charge is very minimal.
Mr. Yaw Sarpong Bemoaned the rate at which persons who apply for Information in public institutions and are denied access do not seek for a review but turn to say otherwise in the public space.
“I believe when people have gone to apply for information in public Institutions and they have not been given access to information, the majority of the people just go home and sleep without even knowing that they have a right of review at the Right to Information Commission. That is why we have been engaging the public on several grounds to educate them”, he stressed.