Sierra Leone Parliament restarts FOI Bill

Parliament in Sierra Leone today started discussiing the long-awaited Right to Access to Information Bill. The discussions at the pre-legislative stage saw the minister of information Alpha Kanu and officials of the ministry present the bill in preparation for its tabling. It follows a surprise re-emergence last week of the bill, otherwise called the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill, which had been shelved despite pleas and advocacy by local and international campaign groups for it to be promulgated. Kanu had earlier told Politico that it would be tabled in parliament on Friday and hopefully passed into law in the coming week. Neither government nor parliament has given any reasons for this sudden speed with which the bill is being pushed, after being in the doldrums in the House for almost five years. Sources say that the lightening speed is not unconnected to the lucrative US government Millennium Challenge Corporation project which, among other things, emphasises transparency and accountability in governance. The head of the Society for Democratic Initiative, the lead campaign organisation for passage of the bill in Sierra Leone has reacted cautiously to the development. Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai told Politico last night that his organisation and its partners were happy that the government had decided “to reintroduce the bill” in parliament. Saffa expressed the hope that it would be passed into law this time around. “Whatever factors led to its passing we are happy and we welcome the move” he said. © Politico 17/10/13