PV Staff.
Since its creation almost two years, ago, Sierra Leone’s Right to Access Information Commission (RAIC) has been facing a number of challenges but as the press release from its Chairman, veteran journalist Unisa Sesay below indicates, it seems to have stabilized itself to get on with its mandate of helping Sierra Leoneans and non-Sierra Leoneans access a wide range of information from the government of Sierra Leone and its agents with a few exceptions like national security issues and personal information.
The Right to Access Information Act of 2013 is one of the documents for which the present APC government has been praised within and outside the country.
Here is Chairman Sesay’s press release on the RAIC sent to us Thursday September 29:
The general public is hereby informed that following the establishment of the Right to Access Information Commission (RAIC) by government, the following update is hereby provided to state the current status in the implementation of its mandate:
1. The Commission was established in October, 2014 at the height of the Ebola disease outbreak and currently operates from its national secretariat at IMATT Freetown, with the process of establishing the regional offices on going;
2. The Commission on its own volition vacated its former office at Congo Cross due to technical and other problems;
3. After a period of occupying its present location at IMATT Freetown, the landlord took the unfortunate step to restrict the Commission’s access to the premises. The Commission is glad to report that it is fully operational at its IMATT offices after fulfilling all its financial obligations;
4. Whilst acknowledging the efforts of the Society for Democratic Initiative (SDI) for providing the first draft of the Regulations required in the Act, the Commission is happy to report that the original draft has undergone extensive revisions by the Commission, its legal officer, the Sierra Leone Law Officers’ Department and the American Bar Association, and is now fully completed and awaiting multi-stakeholder validation before implementation;
5. At the same time, the Commission has completed the code of practice for records management, within its own internal expertise and resources and is also awaiting validation;
6. While paying tribute to the Government of Sierra Leone for the financial and other resources under the current difficult economic circumstances, the Commission wishes to appeal for the timely additional provision of resources for the effective implementation of the Right to Access Information Law, 2013;
7. The Commission has also made initial contacts with development partners in Sierra Leone who have expressed deep interest in the implementation of the Act and therefore calls on them to partner with the Commission to fulfill its mandate;
8. Finally, the Commission wishes to remind Civil Society Organizations which played a key role in advocating for its establishment to work with it in order to achieve the objectives of the Commission and to avoid duplication.
Signed
Unisa Sesay
Chairman/Information Commissioner, Right to Access Information Commission.
RAIC Chairman Unisa Sesay.
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