Madam Diana Asonaba Dapaah, Deputy Attorney-General (AG) and Deputy Minister of Justice, has asked public institutions to “break every mental and physical barrier” impeding the effective implementation of the Right To Information (RTI) Act.

She has also asked them to embrace the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and E-Governance where possible to enhance access to information by the public.

“All state institutions, particularly those of you with a defensive posture, may you break down the mental and physical barriers that you have surrounded yourselves with to impede the effective implementation of the RTI Act,” she said.

The Deputy Minister said this on Wednesday during a public lecture to mark this year’s International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI).

The event, which was organised by the Right To Information Commission, was themed: “Artificial Intelligence, E-governance and Access to Information.”

She observed the general lack of responsiveness of government institutions to handle requests for information mostly because they did not have an information unit with designated personnel to handle requests.

The Deputy Minister, therefore, urged agencies to establish information units or designate an employer to handle such requests.

She said the application of AI and E-Governance simplified information gathering concerning any public department for easy access by citizens.

Madam Dapaah said AI also enabled the public to be actively involved in decision-making before the development or implementation of new policies.

She said integrating AI with E-Governance would best tackle corruption through services automation and enhanced transparency in information publication.

The Deputy Minister said the AG’s Office had resolved to provide every support needed for the Act to work and for the RTI Commission to succeed.

She said the AG had granted prosecutorial powers to the Commission to enable it to prosecute offenses under Act 989.

Furthermore, Madam Dapaah said staff of the Commission had received training to build their capacities as prosecutors to successfully prosecute offenses under the Act.

The Deputy AG said some challenges associated with the implementation of E-Governance policies include infrastructural constraints that affected reliability and availability of E-Governance, especially to remote areas of the country.

Also, she said the low level of ICT skills in the public sector and the general Ghanaian populace was a major challenge.

“This challenge is coupled with the financial constraints that the government of Ghana is faced with. The cost of running and maintaining these systems on a day-to-day basis is no minor challenge,” she said.

The Deputy Minister, therefore, called on corporate organisations and private entities to partner the government with funds and resources required to develop needed infrastructure.

Mr Yaw Sarpong Boateng, Executive Secretary, RTI Commission, said the role of AI could not be overlooked in modern technological times, adding that Ghana should restructure its educational system from basic to tertiary level to catch up with the modern world.

“It has become paramount for institutions to employ the services of the internet in policy scheming and operational management. Al certainly has a role to play in service delivery and helping facilitate work.”

“Government must drive this nation towards universal access to affordable electricity and internet service, which is the backbone of the digitisation and the digitalisation drive,” he said.

Mr Boateng said E-governance could be achieved if Ghana acknowledged that the world was changing and the need to upgrade the traditional method of tracking information services.

He said it was integral for institutions to embrace the best and right data management environment if they wanted to implement AI.

Mr Boateng said for information to play an instrumental role in the world, all people must have equal access to it and countries must adopt constitutional, statutory and political guarantees to make that possible.

Dr Winifred Nafisa Mahama, Director of the Access to Information Division at the Ministry of Information, said a digitised information regime would promote accountability, and quality of public data.

She said the government was committed to E-Government initiatives to restructure the delivery of public services and implement mechanisms that enhanced communication between different parties and also made processes simpler, easier and faster.

“Government understands that an E-Governance system facilitates the integration of policies in public services by encouraging accountable and transparent institutions,” Dr Mahama said.

The West Africa Network for Peacebuilding’s (WANEP) has held its second Lecture Series on Women, Peace and Security Agenda with a call for women to be included in tackling issues of climate change.

It was on the theme: ‘‘Gender, Security and Climate Change: Building Strategic Action for Sustainable Peace.’’

The Lecture series was instituted in 2021 as a platform to help bring visibility to the needs and efforts that are being taken by women and to identify gaps to achieve the aspirations that have been set out in various global frameworks, including the SDGs and AU’s Agenda 2063.

The second Series was for stakeholders to share experiences and good practices in implementation of climate change actions and brought together experts on issues, including gender, security and climate change  from West African countries to establish the links between climate change, women and security.

Mrs Mrs Levinia Addae-Mensah, Deputy Executive Director, WANEP, said there was an urgent need to address specific needs of women in response to climate change because gaps had been identified in that regard.

She said when people meet their basic needs, it reduced their tendency to be involved in violent acts.

Mrs Adda-Mensah said some existing policies that had gaps would be reviewed to ensure that it reflected in responding to the gaps identified around women’s participation

She said the experiences shared at the Lecture Series would encourage others to find innovative ways to address climate change.

Dr Angela Lusigi, Resident Representative, United Nations Development Programme, (UNDP) said climate change was one of the greatest threats to global peace and security, noting that the impacts were more pronounced in Africa.

She said its effects were reversing gains the world had made towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as demonstrated by UNDP’s latest global human development report.

Dr Luigi noted that inadequate coping mechanisms and social protection caused the rise in food insecurity leading to increased malnutrition.

‘‘As you know, a key coping strategy for households when food is in short supply is for women to give the available food to their children and go hungry,’’ she stated.

Major General Francis Ofori, Commandant, Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, said climate change had become an ultimate threat multiplier defining the way peace and security was perceived in recent times.

He noted that its impact had already increased the insecurity of vulnerable communities in many regions of the world, worsening loss of livelihoods, food insecurity, competition over scare resources, human mobility, and political and economic instability.

Dr Afisah Zakariah, Chief Director, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, in a speech read on her behalf, said pre-existing inequalities, gender-related roles and climate expectations, and unequal access to resources could increase inequality and leave some groups disproportionately vulnerable.

She underscored the need to design policies and programmes that meaningfully engaged women in assessing and addressing the gender-differentiated risks and opportunities of climate change impacts in fragile contexts to better address the root causes of conflict and promoting more inclusive, peaceful societies.

Mr George Amoh, Executive Secretary, National Peace Council, said women were denied their livelihoods due to the activities of illegal miners, noting that over 70 per cent of women farmers were the most affected by climate change.

He called for right measures to be put in place to tackle climate change issues to build resilience and mitigate conflicts in Ghana and the Sahel regions.