By Zainab Joaque
The new Minister of Information and Communication, Alpha Kanu has assured members of the Freedom of Information (FOI) coalition that he is willing and ready to restart the FOI Bill process again. “FOI is on a better footing to be passed this time round and I will meet this coalition again for progress on that” he said. He said this when the coalition paid a courtesy call on him on Thursday 14 March at his Youyi Building office. The minister promised to talk to the Attorney General and Parliament to seek advice on the process. If passed into law, he said, the FOI Bill could help avoid rumours, ensure permanent resolution to the many challenges of the country and settle dispute among citizens easily. He expressed his willingness to work with the FOI coalition. The Executive Director of the Society for Democratic Initiative (SDI), Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai told the minister about efforts made by the coalition after the 2012 elections. He said the coalition had paid a courtesy call to the Speaker and Clerk of Parliament and the Majority Leader to assure them of the coalition’s willingness to work with them in attaining an FOI law, and that the contention was for the Minister to start the whole process of the bill in Parliament again. Abdulai explained that the FOI Coalition was born in 2004 out of the desire to advocate for the passage of the Access to Information Law in Sierra Leone. In 2005, he continued the coalition met with President Koroma when he was opposition leader in Parliament and he gave his unqualified support to the bill, and also in 2009 the FOI coalition and the Sierra Leone Association Journalists (SLAJ) formally presented the FOI bill to President Koroma at state house for his blessing. The SDI Executive Director said the coalition had in the past supported the Ministry of Information to undertake a series of events surrounding the drafting of the bill, including a nationwide sensitization on its content.
