The Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) has reportedly declined to provide information regarding the Atomic gas explosion and the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) office fire at Circle, despite formal applications made under the Right to Information (RTI) law.
Kwaku Krobea Asante, Programme Manager for the Independent Journalism Project at the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), disclosed this on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show on Wednesday. He stated that the requests were filed by the MFWA’s investigative unit, The Fourth Estate, to ensure transparency and public access to official records.
“The National Fire Service, for instance, we requested information about a very important incident in our Ghanaian history. If you remember the Atomic gas explosion,” Mr. Asante said.
“We requested information from them (GNFS) to say if the report that was finally put together when you did your investigation, what we can learn from it as a country. What happened at Circle? The GRA office that got burnt, we also requested information on that [but the information was not released],” he added.
According to Mr. Asante, the GNFS justified its refusal by claiming the documents contained “third-party issues” that could not be made public. “At the time, the Ghana National Fire Service argued that the information had third parties involved,” he claimed.
Following the refusal, the matter was taken to the RTI Commission. Mr. Asante noted that the Commission subsequently fined the GNFS GH¢50,000 for its failure to release the requested information.
The MFWA manager argued that the situation highlights ongoing tensions between institutional secrecy and the public’s constitutional right to information, particularly regarding public safety and accountability.