ECONOMY OF GHANA NETWORK IMPLICATION OF RTI LAW ON GOOD GOVERNANCE AND TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY BY FLORENCE DENNIS GHANA ANTI-CORRUPTION COALITION (GACC)

OUTLINE  WHAT IS GOOD GOVERNANCE  INDICATORS OF GOOD GOVERNANCE  WHAT IS SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY  CRITICAL FACTORS FOR SUCCESS OF SA  EXAMPLES OF SA & HOW THEY HAVE WORKED WITHOUT RTI  IMPLICATIONS OF RTI ON GG & SA  PRACTICAL ISSUES IN GHANA

WHAT IS GOOD GOVERNANCE  It is a complex process mechanisms and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences

INDICATORS OF GOOD GOVERNANCE  Accountable  It is a fundamental requirement and the bedrock of good governance  It is an obligation to report, explain and be answerable for the consequences  Transparent  Citizens should follow and understand the decision making processes  Clarity in the outline processes  Follows rule of law  Decisions should be consistent with laid down laws

INDICATORS - CONTD  Responsive  Proactive feedback to citizens concerns in a timely manner  Equitable and Inclusive  All category of citizens feel their interest and concerns are considered as part of the decision making process e.g marginalized, physically challenged, gender

GOOD GOVERNANCE  Efficient and Effective  Cost efficient and effective in using resources  Less leakages and lapses  Participatory  Consultations and solicit inputs of citizens in decision making

WHAT IS SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY “An approach towards building accountability that relies on civic engagement i.e. in which it is the ordinary citizens and/or civil society organizations who participate directly or indirectly in exacting accountability” (Malena, Forster and Singh, 2004)

CRITICAL FACTORS OF SUCCESS OF SA  Political Environment  Democratic  Multi-party system  Civil rights are respected & guaranteed,  Transparency  Access to information

CRITICAL FACTORS  Civil Society Capacity  Level of Organization of CSOs  Membership based  Technical and Advocacy skills  Legitimacy  Level of responsiveness  Accountability to their own members

CRITICAL FACTORS  Role of Media  Independent media  Informing and educating the public  Ownership is pluralistic  State capacity  Functioning public administration  Devolution of authority & resources  Build partnerships with all key stakeholders  Transparency & accountability

CRITICAL FACTORS  State and civil Society synergy  Trust and respect  Effective and constructive engagement  Institutionalization  Ensure impact and achieve better results

TYPES OF SA  Investigative Journalism  Civil Society Monitoring  Public Interest law suits  Citizen Vigilantic  Civil Society led actions  Committee for Joint Action (CJA)  Accountable Governance Group

EXAMPLES OF SA IN GHANA -APRM -Citizen Report Cards  School Feeding tracking  Monitoring of DACF  Budget Expenditure Tracking  Text book tracking  Community Assessment on Poverty Reduction

How have these SA been Implemented without an RTI  Regional & International Requirement  MOU will have to be signed with the Public Institutions concerned  Discretion to provide information is based on institutions  Such process does not sustain SA

EFFECTS  Makes advocacy & policy input difficult  Limits constructive engagement with public institutions  Findings are sometimes challenged  Builds mistrust with Civil Society  Leads to politicization of development issues  CS get confused as to who is credible in terms of information provided  Affects collective action  Weakens holding government accountable

RTI-SA-GG  Information should be available & reliable  Quality and accessible  Should be delivered on timely basis  RTI should provide for passive information – information upon request &  Active information – proactively provide information on government business

RTI-SA-GG  RTI is a tool for GG and SA  RTI provides the basis for critical analysis of issues of public concern  Provides information to citizens for collective action  Provides for rights and responsibilities of citizens and government  Provides citizens the opportunity to verify information provided by government  Enables constructive engagement

PRACTICAL ISSUES IN GHANA  Judgement debt Issues  Citizen Vigilantic  GYEEDA

EXAMPLES  India  Citizen Report Cards  Nigeria  Contract Monitoring  Latin America  Brazil, Panama, Columbia, Mexico Peru, Chile  Conditional Cash Transfers to the Poor  Budget Monitoring  Citizen Reports Cards in improving health care  Oversight of Supreme Audit Institutions

CONCLUSION  Social Accountability ensures and sustains good governance  RTI is key in empowering citizens to hold duty bearers accountable  RTI is fundamental in social accountability and good governance