Transparency in words, Secrecy in practice: How MDAs are betraying Gov’t’s transparency pledge

In January 2025, when President Mahama explained why the Information Ministry had been placed under the Office of the President, he said it was part of the strategy to downsize and to ensure easy access to government information.

“That’s how come we have the minister in charge of government communications,” he said. “And then [we are going] to make sure we are able to anchor it with a string of strong communication professionals in the most critical sectors so that we are able to guarantee as much information flow to the public as possible.”

The government’s promise to ensure access to information was anchored in the NDC’s resetting agenda manifesto, which stated that they will be “fully implementing and operationalising the Right to Information Act, 2019 (Act 989).”

But about 17 months after coming into power, The Fourth Estate has observed a trend of critical public institutions denying journalists and the public access to information.

The Fourth Estate has counted 21 institutions, including the Ministry of Finance, the Office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, the Ministry of Roads and Highways, and the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, that are flouting the Right to Information Act in their reluctance or sheer refusal to release information to the public.

The RTI law, passed in 2019 after sitting on the shelves of Parliament for about 20 years, enjoins public institutions and officers to release information to citizens, as it is a fundamental and constitutionally guaranteed right with limited exception.

The list of public institutions that denied access to information

From January 2025 to July 2026, 21 government institutions failed to release information to journalists from The Fourth Estate in 24 separate RTI requests.

In June 2025, The Fourth Estate requested information from the Ministry of Local Government, Chieftaincy and Religious Affairs on the full list of dumpsites Zoomlion Ltd. was said to have excavated through a multi-million-cedi contract with the government. The ministry failed to respond despite an internal appeal to the then minister, Ahmed Ibrahim.

In the same month, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources failed to release information on the list of companies President Akufo-Addo had granted permits under the LI2462 to mine in forest reserves that had been designated as globally significant biodiversity areas.  

In September 2025, the National Communications Authority (NCA) refused to release information on how much KGL Technologies had received through its USSD platform for the 5/90 online lottery. The information was necessary for The Fourth Estate’s investigations into the terrible NLA-KGL deal, but the NCA did not budge.

In March 2026, the Ghana Highways Authority (GHA) promised that it would make available copies of the government’s flagship Big Push project in two weeks. But after five months, the GHA appears to have reneged on its promise. The Fourth Estate, through the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), has submitted a petition to the RTI Commission for a review.

The GHA, in May 2026, again failed to release information on abandoned prefabricated bridges Ghana procured through a 43 million-pounds loan, despite an internal appeal to the Acting Chief Executive Officer, Mallam Issah Ishak.

The Finance Ministry oversees fund disbursement to all government institutions, but when The Fourth Estate requested information on its budgetary allocations and disbursements in April 2026, it chose not to respond. An internal appeal has been sent to the minister, Cassiel Ato Forson. Still, the Ministry has failed to provide the information.

The Finance Ministry has also decided to close the door on information on the details of the work of the technical committee established by President Mahama to investigate the NLA-KGL contract. In May 2026, an application requesting a copy of the full report of the committee was sent to the Office of the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice. The Attorney-General’s office said the MFWA should check with the Office of the President. The Office of the President, in turn, said the MFWA should contact the Finance Ministry for it. But the Finance Ministry has gone quiet, despite a follow-up appeal to the Minister.

The Attorney-General’s office has also refused to disclose information on how much the state has recovered from the Republic vs. Kwabena Duffour and 7 others case. An appeal has been sent to Attorney-General Dr Dominic Ayine, but that has changed nothing.

(The full list of public institutions denying access to information under the Mahama administration is at the bottom of the story)

Experts call for sanctions

Anti-corruption and Right to Information activists have called for sanctions against public institutions that deliberately deny access to information to journalists under the RTI law.

For Zakaria Tanko Musa, a private legal practitioner and media lecturer, journalists do not ask for information for their own sake but for public scrutiny. Therefore, to deny journalists access to information that is not exempt under the RTI law is to deny the public access to information they need for informed decision-making.

“Failure or refusal to release information should come with consequences,” he said. “Unfortunately, those are the things that are lacking, and that is why we are seeing the ignoring of the [request for] information with impunity.”

The Executive Director of Transparency International (TI) Ghana, Mary Awelana Adda, also believes that cracking the whip can cause a change.

“If sanctions are meted out, then people will comply. Then the bureaucracy and the unnecessary red tape will be reduced,” she said at the launch of TI Ghana’s report on access to information in June.

Government says it is committed to transparency, despite tall list of information denials

Despite what appears to be a deliberate attempt by many public institutions to deny access to information, Felix Ofosu Kwakye, Minister in charge of Government Communications, in response to a request for a comment, insisted that the government is committed to openness, transparency, and accountability.  

“As a government, there’s no policy of concealment,” he noted. “We do not have a policy that says that various government agencies in various sectors should conceal information because we are uncomfortable or anything.”

Mr. Ofosu Kwakye also cautioned that there are instances where the information being requested may be exempted under the law, in which case the government is restricted from divulging it.

“We believe that the law has inbuilt mechanisms to provide remedies for persons who are aggrieved by the conduct of public institutions regarding their unwillingness, or if you like, inability to disclose information that is requested for,” he said.

He reiterated that the government is committed to working with any institution to ensure a smoother implementation of the RTI law.

The full list of the institutions is below