Affairs, Hon Phillip Tetema Tondoneh said there could be no better time for the RAIC to visit than now when the ministry is going through a management and Functional Review, and believed that the deliberations will be fruitful to both parties.
Thanking the Ministry for hosting the Commission, The Chairman and Information Commissioner (CIC) of RAIC Dr. Ibrahim Seaga Shaw said the visit was a follow-up to the previous 13 MDAs the RAIC had visited.
Referencing sections 2 of the RAI Act of 2013 Dr. Shaw said, everyone has right to access to information held by public authorities and therefore urged the ministry to treat requesters seriously. He noted that inasmuch as citizens have right to information, the Act makes room for exemption; Part 3 sections 12 to 26 which are classes of information such as national security, personal data, economic interest, third party information etc. which cannot be disclosed except where the public interest in disclosure outweighs the harm in doing so.
He also touched on the significance of section 27, the proper management of records to access to information without which access is almost impossible. He added that the appointment of Public Information Officers PIOs whom the RAI Act describes as principal contact person in the public authority for the facilitation of information access and urged the Ministry to have as many PIOs as they needed.
He drew their attention to section 8 (2) that obliged Public Authorities to put out minimum of 22 classes of information proactively, which is why the RAIC shares the Proactive Disclosure of Information (PDI) template as well as the Annual Compliance Report template that catalogues the information Requests the Ministry has received and how they are responded to in the course of the review year.
Responding, the Permanent Secretary (PS) of the Ministry of Public Administration and Political Affairs Madam Haja Rugiatu Kamara acknowledged that the Ministry has fallen short of the requirements in the RAI Act in different forms, including the lack of a records manager. But she confirmed that they ministry is in the process of a Management and Functional Review and its best RAIC is here and that moving forward they will be addressed.
Senior Director in the Ministry James Gbongor, said the Ministry submitted PDI in 2021 and will pick up from where it left off.
After a question-and-answer session, The Acting Minister Phillip Tetema Tondoneh recommends that more meetings and consultations should be held frequently and the RAIC to do more sensitizations for citizens to be more aware of their rights and responsibilities.
For media inquiries, contact:
David Patrick Kamara
Public Information Officer
Right to Access Information Commission (RAIC) National Secretariat
