By Amara Thoronka
CLD Legal Officer flanked by a cross section of RAIC staff
The Right to Access Information Commission (RAIC) and the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) of Canada have held an intensive two-day training workshop on “Applying the Comprehensive Methodology for Assessing Right to Information (RTI) Implementation” on Thursday 20th to Friday 21st February 2025 at the Family Kingdom Resort in Freetown.
In his opening remark, Dr. Ibrahim Seaga Shaw, the Chairman and Information Commissioner of RAIC, gave the background of the country’s access to information oversight body and the status of compliance on access to information in Sierra Leone over the years, while underscoring that there has been steady increase in the number of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests nationwide.
He said the training will help in assessing or evaluating the capacity of RAIC and other public authorities – government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), in facilitating access to information through having a public information officer, records department and information communication technology (ICT) departments and enhance the compliance in accordance with the Right to Information (RAI) Act 2013 and RAI Regulations 2022.
“The training will improve the way we monitor compliance. The training will add an extra layer to the methodology we have been using to monitor compliance on both proactive and reactive disclosure of information,” he said.
Dr. Shaw noted that the idea of evaluating MDAs is key as it provides insight in using what he called “the carrot and stick approaches” like guiding and capacitating public authorities to provide information on the one hand and on the other hand reprimanding or sanctioning them when they default.
The head of the country’s access to information oversight body encouraged participants to pay close attention and ask questions to get clarity and better insight into all areas covered by the training workshop.
Mr. Charles Keif-Kobai, the Executive Director of Forward Sierra Leone, a civil society organization working on democratic good governance, said the training came at the right time, adding that the training will add significant value and knowhow to the work of the Commission.
Mr. Keif-Kobail noted that right to access information is crucial to nation-building as it enhances transparency and accountability. He however said that it is important to have a law but more important when the law is implemented fully as he mentioned that the training will help better in implementing access to information laws and regulations. He assured that the knowledge gained and lessons learnt will be cascaded to other civil society actors.
Another vibrant civil society activist, Mr. Abdul Fatoma of the Campaign for human Rights and Development International (CHRDI), said access to information guarantees and empowers citizens to ask for information to better participate in governance and hold their leaders accountable. He said the training is also crucial in capacitating civil society organizations, especially those working on democracy, human rights and good governance.
Mr. Raphel Vagliano, the facilitator of the training and Legal Officer of the Canadian-based Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD), began the training facilitation exercise by providing detailed background and outline of the training, countries in which such a training has been conducted with key reference to reports derived from similar trainings in other jurisdictions. He noted that right to information is central to the work of his institution, the Centre for Law and Democracy.
“This methodology is very important in assessing the status of access to information in the country,” he said, adding that it comes at a time the Right to Access Information Commission is reflecting on its ten years of existence and how it can better execute its mandate and activities.
He commended Sierra Leone for still ranking impressively as one of the countries with the best access to information law in the world, currently ranking 11 out of 140 countries worldwide. The CLD Legal Officer however emphasized that a law is just as good as its application, saying the ranking focuses more on the law and not the implementation.
Making a statement to conclude the first day of the training exercise, Hon. Mustapha M Braima, the Executive Secretary of RAIC, reiterated that the training is essential as it would help the RAIC and partners to know the processes and procedures in monitoring compliance to access to information in the country.
The second and final day of the training was characterized by delving deep into materials, best practices, processes and procedures in applying the comprehensive methodology for accessing right to information implementation, making test information requests and putting together a comprehensive report after the whole implementation exercise and the assessment of the oversight body [the RAIC] by a neutral professional assessor. Several individual and group practical exercises and tests were done by participants to put into practice the knowledge and skills gained from the training.
It is hoped that the training will significantly boost the work of the Right to Access Information Commission and civil society activists who participated in the workshop.