By Amara Thoronka
PSRU boss handing over review report to RAIC chair
The Right to Access Information Commission (RAIC) now has a new structural organogram to strengthen its continued impressive efforts in delivering on its mandate which is to effectively and efficiently facilitate access to information within public institutions and other entities provided for in the Right to Access Information Act 2013 and Right to Access Information Regulations 2022.
The structural adjustment came after the Public Sector Reform Unit (PSRU) on Friday, 9th July, 2024, presented its final report on the management and functional review of RAIC at the conference hall of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. It could be recalled that the Steering Committee on Public Sector Reform had reviewed and approved the said report on 2nd May 2024.
Presenting the review report, Director of PSRU, Sulaiman Phoray-Musa, started by praising the leadership of RAIC for committing to and supporting the review process throughout.
“Let me take this opportunity to commend the leadership of the Right to Access Information Commission for taking the bold step to conduct a management and functional review. It takes a visionary leader to embark on change. Change is difficult and people often resist it, but it brings more impacts and those impacts can change our society. I always implore leaders who exhibit the tendencies to implement change,” he said.
He said President Bio deliberately articulated in his manifesto promise, which would transform into a medium-term national development plan, that he wants to transform the public service architecture, stressing the importance of the public service in realizing and sustaining growth and development.
“No nation can grow more than its public service. It takes transformation in the public service to transform a nation because the transformative drives of nations are embedded within the public service and that is the human resource. If you lack the requisite skills and capacities within your structure and system, it would be very difficult for you to implement key priorities in your institution. So, it is important that we constantly review institutions and look at systems and processes that institutions are using to carry out their functions,” he explained.
The PSRU chief mentioned that His Excellency the President, in his second dispensation, brought in a Ministry of Public Administration and Political Affairs, a move he said indicates the President’s commitment to transforming the public service architecture of Sierra Leone, adding that, in the medium term national development plan, it is articulated that mandates, functions and responsibilities of institutions must align with national priorities, noting that, that is why his institution, PSRU, has been given the core function to look at institutions and align them to national priorities.
Mr. Phoray-Musa said the efficiency and effectiveness of an institution is not determined by huge number of personnel, saying a downsized institution can equally do well and save government money.
“You do not need large structures. You do not need blotted numbers to be efficient and functional. Mostly, you need some lean structures to make you efficient and functional in dispensing your duties. At the PSRU, our mission is to ensure that we create lean performing institutions. We do not need to have many directorates. Some directorates can be subsumed under units to make them more functional and productive. We have made billions of Leones in savings with management and functional reviews. We have done mergers and demergers, thus, reducing the wage bill,” he narrated.
In his PowerPoint presentation of the review report, the PSRU Director displayed the proposed organogram of the Right to Access Information Commission which he said is necessary and in the best interest of the nation and crucial in making the Commission more professional, effective and efficient in delivering on its mandate. The proposed structure of RAIC has a range of positions with a clear hierarchical structure.
“For any development that will be taken from now till 2030, there is a blueprint which is the national medium term development plan. So, the management and functional review is to ensure that the RAIC better fit into the development priorities of government. In order words, we assessed the contribution of RAIC in promoting the agenda of His Excellency the President as articulated in the national development plan,” he said.
He emphasized that PSRU’s primarily role is to ensure that they eliminate duplication. “Any institution that we find that is duplicating functions, we will recommend to the government that those institutions are merged or possibly to ensure that they are not a burden to the wage bill,” he said.
He said they used research tools like desk review, interview, focus group discussion and questionnaire in doing the management and functional review on the Right to Access Information Commission, in adding to doing comparative analysis with similar structures in other countries to realize best practice. The PSRU boss noted that, during the review, they engaged several stakeholders within the access to information spectrum who made their inputs into the management and functional review process of RAIC. He continued that the report was submitted to the PSRU steering committee chaired by the Secretary to the President where the RAIC Chair and Information Commissioner defended the report which was later validated.
“It is not all done. We are going to develop an implementation framework that will be submitted to the Secretary to the President and the PSRU Steering Committee for approval and then to cabinet and we would then start the implementation of this report,” he clarified.
The PSRU recommended, among other things, for the amendment of the RAIC Act of 2013, saying some of its provisions have become obsolete. It added that, during the review, it came out clear that RAIC is understaff, identifying human resource gap in terms of qualification and specialized skills in access to information. “We recommend the recruitment of additional staff on merit basis with required qualification and experience specifically for professional and technical positions across all cadres in order to strengthen the capacity of the agency. Getting the right people to do the right job is very important,” he said.
The management and functional review recommended to the Commission to strengthen its communication unit with necessary staff training and communication equipment to fully operationalize the function of the unit with internet connectivity in all regional offices.
It is also recommended for the Commission to have a more suitable office space befitting to implement its mandate.
The PSRU Director disclosed that the Data Protection Bill is at an advanced stage for enactment, noting that, after the enactment of the bill which will be implemented by RAIC, the Commission will then have two Acts of Parliament to implement: Right to Access Information Act and Data Protection Act. The review report proposed for the name of RAIC to be changed to incorporate data protection.
It is against this backdrop that the Public Sector Reform Unit proposed a new organogram for RAIC.
The Chairman and Information Commissioner is at the apex of the Commission’s leadership, followed by the five Commissioners representing the five regions and the Executive Secretary. There is also the finance, procurement & internal audit units that report to the Chairman and Information Commissioner.
Next are the directorates headed by directors:
Director of Corporate Services followed by a Manager, Public Information and Communication & Senior Public Information and Communication Officer and a Public Information and Communication Officer. Also, under this directorate is the Manager, Human Resource & Administration followed by Senior HR & Admin Officer and HR & Admin Officer.
Another directorate is Open Data & Records Management with a director. Under the director is the Manager, Open Data & Records, Senior Officer of Records Management and Officer of Records Management. Also next on the line is a Senior Open Data Officer and an Open Data Officer.
There is also a Directorate on Compliance, Policy, Planning and M&E headed by a director. Next is the Manager – Compliance, Policy, Planning and M&E; Senior Policy & Planning Officer; Policy & Planning Officer; Senior Compliance Officer ; Compliance officer ; Senior M&E; Officer –and M&E Officer–.
An additional directorate is Data Protection headed by a director followed by a Manager in Data Protection; Senior Officer – Data Protection; and Officer – Data Protection.
In his statement, Dr. Ibrahim Seaga Shaw, the chairman and information commissioner of RAIC, welcomed the report and highlighted some development following the institution’s first management and functional in 2018.
“This is not the first time we are doing a management and functional review at RAIC. We did one when we came in 2018. Gaps were identified and recommendations made. Within the last five years, we have benefitted a lot from those recommendations. We won’t have been where we are today if not for that review.
We didn’t have a website before we came in, but we now have a functional website in addition to a staff manual. We also didn’t have a strategic plan, but we now have one which we started rolling out in 2023. We also now have an open data center in addition to digitalizing freedom of information forms to enhance speed in accessing information. A lot more recommendations were adopted and we continue to implement more,” the RAIC boss said.
Making a statement, Madam Mariatu Brown, Deputy Financial Secretary at the Ministry of Finance emphasized the need of the review.
“A management and functional review of any institution is very important because it chats the way forward. We are preparing for the 2025 budget which requires a lot of planning and part of that planning is a management and functional review. Such a review identifies challenges and proffers solutions. It is our hope that this document will support the implementation of the activities of RAIC,” she stated.
A representative of the Minister of Information and Civic Education expressed delight over the outcome of the review, noting that RAIC is an agency being supervised by the Ministry of Information and Civic Education, adding that the management and functional review to see how they can implement their mandates and functions much better. “It is a big gain for both the RAIC and the Information Ministry,” he said.
The Public Sector Reform Unit provides leadership, coordination, strategic guidance in design and implementation of all public sector initiatives. It conducts systems review of MDAs in order to investigate institutional weaknesses and proffer recommendations for effective and efficient service delivery.
