“Poor” Utilization of Information Law, Gov’t’s “Weak” Compliance Mechanism Worry Stakeholders

Access to information, as one of the fundamental pillars of human rights, appears to be downplayed in Liberia due to what many believe is an “entrenched culture of secrecy” in political governance and the lack of the willpower in the implementation or utilization of the country’s Freedom of Information (FOI) law.

   The Liberian government in 2010 passed the FOI act, and 3 years later (in 2013) established an Independent Information Commission (IIC), in an attempt to ensure that this fundamental right is enforced and fully adhered to. This, according to sources, made Liberia the first West African country to enact a comprehensive FOI law.

   As it stands, there are overwhelming challenges with citizens accessing basic information, even though the law provides remedies—a 30—60—90-day period—for those seeking public information in the possession of either private or public entity performing public functions or providing services.

   Whilst stakeholders opt for the revision of the statute due to some bottlenecks, authorities say many policymakers and implementers, civil society organizations, the media, students and other who-be-interested applicants of public information have shown little or no interest in FOI’s utilization, despite its importance in the increasing demand for public information.

   As part of efforts to promote freedom of information in the implementation of the FOI law, Center for Media Studies & Peacebuilding (CEMESP), in collaboration with Internews, under the Liberia Media Initiative Project, co-financed by the European Union (EU), on May 31, 2021 held a public information roundtable dialogue between stakeholders, county information officers, government entities, public relation officers and twenty-five trained FOI investigative journalism fellows.

   The public information roundtable, held under the theme, “Building Networks to Increase Demand for FOI Use”, is the first of three to be conducted also in collaboration with Local Voices Liberia Media Network across the country, according to CEMESP Executive Director, Malcolm W. Joseph.

The Challenge

   The media, among information stakeholders, has been the least user of the FOI law, so far, according to an IIC report.

   Earlier, in a previous project, prior to the Liberia Media Initiative, in collaboration with CEMESP and Local Voices Liberia under this EU co-financed project, Internews had trained more than 25 Liberian journalists in utilizing the FOI law for effective and responsible reporting–on the backdrop of the observation that the media was the least user of the FOI law, according to Samuka V. Konneh, Internews’ Project Director of the Liberia Media Initiative. 

   “Trainings after trainings, one mentoring followed by another, these fellows file over a hundred FOI requests, but unfortunately only around 10 or so got a response, sometimes not even a full response,” Project Director Konneh said. He recalled the poor level of relationship between reporting journalists and public officials who are custodians of public records, and the difficulties expressed in the FOI law itself: 6.1 Right of Appeal; 6.2 Internal Review and 6.3 Compliant to the ICC.

   Out of the over 100 media FOI’s requests filed and the ten “partially” responded to by public entities, only eight journalists raised their complaints with the Independent Information Commission using provision of the law, “but they didn’t come back to make follow-up with the IIC again,” said Emmanuel D. Howe, Executive Director of IIC.

   The current internal review mechanism enshrined in the FOI law, the lack of political will from central government actors, limited public awareness of the law, the culture of secrecy and the low use of the FOI to access public information–inclusive of journalists and media institutions—are among identified impediments of the law.

Calls for review of FOI law

   Amidst inadequate utilization of the law, there are also some difficulties in its implementation, as custodians of public information usually rely on provisions of the same law to delay or deny applicants their requests to public documents of interest.

   Stakeholders, including the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), West Africa Journalist Association (WAJA), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and others are calling for a review of the law as ICC exerts efforts and practically beg for financial and logistical support to implement its function.

   WAJA President, Peter Quaqua, observed the need to amend “problematic aspects”, pointing to Chapter Three Section 3.9 and Chapter Six, Section 6.2, 6.3, and others.

   “The law, as it is written, can be used by people who are mischievous, people who got something to hide; people who don’t favor the information being released. Those aspects of the FOI law are not friendly for media work because no journalist wants to wait for 30 days, 60 days, or 90 days – to get an information released to the public that is waiting, waiting, and waiting,” Quaqua argued.

   In his speech on the topic, “The Increasing Need for Cooperation and Partnership in our Quest for Unhindered Access to Information in Liberia”, Cllr. Mark Bedor Wla-Freeman, the Commissioner of the government’s statutory institution with oversight mandate to implement the FOI Act, the Independent Information Commission (IIC), emphasized that it was crucial to recognize that “access to information is an anti-corruption as well as a tool for accountability and transparency”.

   He called for open minds in the fight against corruption in Liberia. “We should realize that, in order to succeed, we need to demand accountability and transparency, not only from the government but also from NGOs [non-governmental organizations] and donors that have also held vast resources on behalf the country,” adds Cllr. Wla-Freeman.

   Other representatives of civil society organizations, including the Vice President of the Press Union of Liberia, Daniel Nyakonah, also emphasized the need for journalists to base their stories on factual information, reminding the FOI journalism fellows that “we are here to prepare ourselves to dig out the right information that will form part of the sources that will make a better story … to serve public good”.

   For his part, the Head of EU Delegation to Liberia, Ambassador Laurant Delahousse, urged journalists, including the freedom of information journalism fellows, to always report with the facts, despite journalism being one of the most difficult jobs in the world.

   “I see the personal attacks against my good friend, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in your country, for instance. I see articles in the media that are obviously being bought–paid money to publish. They don’t represent a form of truth. You [FOI journalism fellows] are here to access the information, share the information, and make it very clear in what you write–what is a fact, without a fact, and what is a comment on the fact. That is absolutely necessary.”