Commencing Monday, October 21 to November 15, 2024, the Independent Information Commission (IIC) will conduct a full Freedom of Information (FOI) compliance assessment on all government institutions including ministries and agencies.
The intent of this is to determine the government FOI implementation status, which is a major component of the Commission’s Annual Report to the National Legislature.
In a circular memorandum, addressed to all ministries, autonomous agencies, public corporations, commissions, committees, sub-committees, military & paramilitary institutions the IIC stated that the process is consistent with Chapter 5. Section 5.2 (e) of the Freedom of Information Act.
This portion of the FOI Law empowers the Independent Information Commission (IIC) to investigate, monitor and promote compliance with the FOI Act as well as, collect statistics associated therewith.
The IIC through the circular memo authorized its employees including Armah B. Johnson and Bernard M. Clarke to carry on the assessment.
IIC is requesting all government institutions to accord the team with the necessary support and information needed to successfully conduct this assessment.
The assignment will consider all Government Institutions to appoint or designate one Staff as Public Information Officer, Setup An internal Review Mechanism, Promote Proactive Disclosure (Automatic Publication of Documents or Records as soon as they are generated or received) and Report to the IIC.
The Freedom of Information (FOI) Law of Liberia mandates all public bodies and private institutions covered under the Act to appoint or designate, maintain and duly support at least one personnel/ Staff whose over all responsibilities shall be to receive requests for information held by the authority or entity and coordinate the response(s) of the authority or entity to all such requests.
The Law states that the designated Personnel/Staff shall serve as primary contact of the authority or agency with the public relative to request for and provision of information and his responsibilities shall include promoting best practices in record maintenance, storage, and management, and assisting members of the public, especially illiterate and other physically challenged persons to file requests for information.
Chapter 6 Section 6.2 of the Freedom of Information Act requires that an applicant who receives a negative decision or action regarding a request for information or who believes that the transfer of his or her request or the fees charged by the public body or private entity are inconsistent with FOI Law shall in all cases be entitled to an Internal Review of the action or decision. Such internal review shall be conducted by a senior official or an internal Information request review body to be established by each authority or agency.
An internal Review shall be concluded within thirty (30) working days as of its filing by the applicant. The outcome of each Internal Review shall be in writing and copies shared with the applicant .
Furthermore, Article 2 Sec. 2.3 of the Freedom of Information Law of Liberia also requires that the Publication Scheme of every public authority or body should be widely accessible, and the hard copies of the scheme should be available at the offices of the authority and at other reasonable public places.
Moreover, Article 2 Sec 2.5 of the Freedom of Information Law states: “Without prejudice to the general publication scheme established in this Act, every public authority is obliged to publish, and maintained published, certain key Classes of documents/ information as soon as they are generated or received by the authority, irrespective of whether a request has been made or not made for them”
Article 2 Sec.2.6 Documents Subject to Automatic Publication Scheme in the FOI laws including enabling legislation of the agency or public authority, the existing policies, procedures and rules, budget, financial accounts, material contracts, organizational chart including line of reporting.
It also highlights procedures for appealing decision of the authority or its officers, as well as any other information that would enable the public to deal with the Authority or monitors its performance.
