Chairman and Information Commissioner of the Right to Access Information Commission of Sierra Leone, Dr Ibrahim Seaga Shaw, has called for sustained collective efforts to promote and advance access to information and information integrity. Dr Seaga Shaw was speaking at the Regional Conference on Information Integrity for West Africa and the Sahel organized by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Praia, Cape Verde from 3rd to 5th September 2025.
The RAIC Sierra Leone boss was featured in one of the conference’s most crucial panesl to discuss how to leverage inclusive access to information and public interest data to strengthen information integrity in West Africa and the Sahel.
The contribution of Sierra Leone’s information commissioner was centered on access to information policy and proactive disclosure giving the Sierra Leone perspective.
Speaking on the effectiveness and challenges of access to information (ATI) legal framework and challenges, Dr Seaga Shaw said Sierra Leone has a strong legal framework on access to information, saying the Right to Access Information Act 2013 and Right to Access Information Regulations 2022 empower the Right to Access Information Commission of Sierra Leone as a solely autonomous body to enforce compliance by public authorities in both reactive and proactive disclosure of information.
“The said legal framework authorizes the Information Commission to issue orders and impose fines for non-compliance. However, the legal framework is currently being reviewed to enhance better enforcement and compliance and increase access to information. There are also sustained awareness-raising efforts of the Information Commission, causing the country to be recording thousands of information requests, especially in the last three years; from 13,016 information requests in 2022 to 19,391 requests in 2023 to 15,000 requests in 2024. In all these years, over 90% of information requested was processed and provided. This a major development for a small nation like Sierra Leone as the nation continues to do impressively well in both regional and global ratings on access to information amid challenges,” he said.
Dr Seaga Shaw however recognized major challenges threatening the information ecosystem, especially in this era of mind-blowing advancement of digital technologies, adding that media or information illiteracy continues to be a fertile ground for misinformation and fake news, noting that the misuse of digital media and artificial intelligence is also a worrying concern as there has been an advancement in deepfakes and AI-generated disinformation all of which, he said, have either created flames or fan the flames of conflicts and panic.
Proffering viable solutions to tackle threats to information integrity in West Africa and the Sahel, Dr Ibrahim Seaga Shaw said information bodies, governments, civil society, the media and other stakeholders in access or right to information are essentially crucial in making public-interest data more accessible, usable and impactful to combat disinformation and strengthen trust.
“It is evident that information secrecy or information inaccessibility or delay in accessing information is an influencing factor for misinformation and disinformation as lack of reliable information creates information gaps which can be filled by anything available, including that which is misleading and fake. In this era of exponential technology boom, it is prudent to leverage on digital technologies to expedite access to information and fight against fake news. In Sierra Leone, there is now a digital infrastructure which has all the four forms in the access to information process: Request Form, Acknowledgment Form, Response Form and Complaint Form. These forms, which used to be paper-based only, have now been reduced to digital or electronic versions and embedded in the official website of the Right to Access Information Commission, so that both the demand for and supply of information can be done with a click,” he told the Conference.
He added that stakeholders should collaborate in establishing and efficiently operating inclusive, robust and speedy factchecking platforms to eradicate or drastically minimize the effects of fake news and misinformation.
Recognizing the importance of promoting multilingual and inclusive access to information, Dr Seaga Shaw mentioned that requesters of information should be guaranteed, in policy and practice, the language they are comfortable with in making requests for information, including local dialects as it is international best practice to ensure that all shades of society have access to information.
On policy and practice relating to proactive disclosure of government-held information and open data, the RAIC Sierra Leone boss noted that proactive disclosure obliges public authorities to intentionally disclose information and not wait until request is made for such.
“In Sierra Leone, public authorities are obliged by law to proactively disclose at least twenty (22) classes of information including a public authority’s particulars, organogram, minutes of meetings, guide to access information, directory of employees, programs and projects, contracts, list of information held and facilities to obtain them, and salaries of employees. Nature does not allow a vacuum; public authorities have to make one of two choices: they should either proactively disclose public information or allow people to make their own information which may not be true”.
Dr Shaw added that though there are challenges regarding full compliance, regional stakeholders and development partners should support national access to information oversight bodies with ways to realize full compliance with proactive disclosure as it is crucial in timely and accordingly dispelling misinformation, disinformation or fake news.
In his closing submission, Dr Seaga Shaw stated that the regional conference could not have come at a much better time to the extent that it serves as a forerunner to the 17tth edition of the International Conference of Information Commissioners to be hosted in Freetown, Sierra Leone in September, 2026, focusing on information integrity in the digital age.
The three-day Regional Conference on Information Integrity ended with adopting a policy framework on information integrity in West Africa and the Sahel; proffering context-relevant approaches for transparent, accountable and human-rights based governance platforms; adopting the Action Plan for Information Integrity in West Africa and the Sahel; and maximizing stakeholder commitment to coordinated, sustainable, and synergistic actions in support of information integrity.
Dr Ibrahim Seaga Shaw was in the same panel with Professor Silvino Evora of the University of Cape Verde, Dr Vincent Olatunji of the Data Protection Commission of Nigeria, and Mrs Genevieve Shirley Lartey of the Right to Information Commission of Ghana; all of whom made significant inputs into the said plenary session on leveraging inclusive access to information and public interest data to strengthen information integrity in West Africa and the Sahel. The session was moderated by Edetaen Ojo, Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda based in Lagos, Nigeria.
Other members of the Sierra Leone delegation to the conference were Emmanuel Abubakarr Turay, the Acting Director of Government Information Services at the Ministry of Information and Civic Education and Millicent Kargbo, the President of Sierra Leone Association of Women in Journalism.
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