The information professional’s role in the Right to Information Bill

An information professional is someone who collects, records, organises, stores, preserves, retrieves and disseminates printed or digital information.

The term is most frequently used interchangeably with the term 'librarians', knowledge managers and archivists, etc. According to Noruzi (2006), “In the 21st century, governments must recognise this need for information use and literacy as a means of development.”

Hence, information professionals play a key role in national development. The Department of Information Studies of the University of Ghana runs courses from diploma to doctorate levels.

The importance of information and knowledge to Ghanaians has been increasingly recognised the world over. The country’s growth and current development will depend on information professionals.

They will collect, organise and disseminate information to appropriate centres or knowledge repositories. They will also provide relevant, up-to-date and adequate information on education, health, food security, democracy, population, youth empowerment, the environment, gender equality, family planning among many others.

Importance of information

Lack of information devices people the opportunity to develop their potential to the fullest and realise the full range of their human rights. Individual personality, political and social identity and economic capability are all fashioned by the information that is available to each person and to society at large.

The practice of routinely holding information away from the public creates 'subjects' rather than 'citizens' and is a violation of their rights. By and large, this was recognised by the United Nations at its very inception in 1946, when the General Assembly resolved that: "Freedom of Information is a fundamental human right and the touchstone for all freedoms to which the United Nations is consecrated."

Enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the right's status as a legally binding treaty obligation was affirmed in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." This has placed the right to access information firmly within the body of universal human rights law.

The right to information sets a higher standard of accountability and gives citizens the legal power to attack the legal and institutional impediments to openness and accountability that still dominate the operations of many governments.

It holds within it the right to seek information, as well as the duty to give information, to store, organise and make it easily available, and to withhold it only when it is proven that this is in the best public interest. The duty to enable access to information rests with the government and encompasses two key aspects: enabling citizens to access information upon request and proactively disseminating important information.

The United States of America, United Kingdom, South Africa, Kenya, Nepal, etc. already have the right to information in place. In a way, Ghana needs to catch up to be internationally credible and competitive. Access to information is very crucial. It accelerates national development and it is indispensable.

The information needs of Ghanaians are varied and growing in nature due to the growth of literature and highly educated citizens. The Government of Ghana has provided some facilities for information dissemination to the general public through different channels, methods, media, and techniques. There is constitutional provision for free access to information to all the citizens of Ghana. The 1992 Constitution of Ghana guarantees to everyone, under article 21(1) (f), the right to information subject to such qualifications and laws are necessary in a democratic society. Every citizen has the right to demand and receive any information of public importance.

Right to Information and Library and Information systems

Library and information systems can be considered as the foundation to fulfil the objective of Right to information of Ghanaians. Such systems can provide the facilities of laboratories for information access to meet the varieties of information needs of heterogeneous users. Both the subjects e.g. right to information and library and information systems are interlinked and interdisciplinary to each other.

By and large, the Government of Ghana has not recognised the library and information system as an important area to fulfil the norms of right to information. There are no policies and procedures to effectively manage library and information systems in the country.

In 2003, the government of Ghana prepared the first draft of the Right to Information (RTI) Bill to give effect to constitutionally guaranteed fundamental right to information. Following some degree of consultations with civil society, the bill was finally laid before the 5th Parliament on Friday, February 5, 2010.

One major problem of the right to information Act in Ghana to the information profession is that most members of the public and private institutions do not have well-established knowledge repositories such as libraries, archives, information centres, etc. to collect, capture, store, preserve and manage information in Ghana.

Also, there is no national commission on libraries and information in the country to see to development and management of institutional knowledge repositories. The National Commission of Libraries and Information (NCLI) will be an independent organ established for the implementation of Right to Information in Ghana. The primary responsibility of the commission is to protect, promote and ensure the implementation of Right to Information in Ghana.

Without the commission, things are going to be done anyhow.
With the above submissions, it can vividly be said that library and information systems should be a part and parcel of a country’s Right to Information Act. Libraries and information centres should work as the laboratories to fulfil every type of information need of the citizens.

The government of Ghana will certainly recognise the importance of libraries and information centres to achieve the goals of Right to Information in the present changing atmosphere.