The Right to Information Commission has fined the Audit Service GHC30,000 for failing to release data on recruitment to private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu.
Kpebu had sought information on whether the Audit Service Board acted in consultation with the Public Services Commission before recruiting 150 new employees, as required by Article 189(2) of the Constitution.
He also enquired whether the Board had declared vacancies and placed advertisements in national dailies, as required by Article 3(1) of the Audit Service Scheme of Service 2020 and Article 7(a) of the Collective Agreement between the Audit Service and the Public Service Workers Union.
In addition, Kpebu requested information on the following:
Total number of candidates who applied for the job
Total number of candidates who were shortlisted for the interview
Interview dates and venue
Composition of the interview panel
Score sheets of successful and unsuccessful applicants at the interview
Final report of the interview panel presented to the Audit Service Board
Copies of appointment letters of the 150 successful candidates
Academic and professional qualifications of all successful applicants
Application letters of 150 successful applicants
Expenditure, if any, incurred about the recruitment exercise
The Audit Service, however, ignored Kpebu’s requests, forcing him to escalate the issue to the RTI Commission.
In its ruling, the RTI Commission stated that “based on the Respondent’s failure to furnish the Applicant with the information requested coupled with its refusal to respond to all correspondence from the Commission, an administrative penalty of Thirty Thousand Cedis (GHC 30,000) is imposed on the Respondent and this shall be payable to the Commission not later than 14 days after the date of receipt of this decision. The penalty so imposed shall attract an additional default penalty.”
