Freedom of Information (FOI) Act (LR0029)

What is the public problem that the commitment will address?: Liberia was the first country in Africa to pass a Freedom of Information (FoI) Act but very few citizens know the act exists, nor are they able to obtain information through the act. Additionally, the government has difficulty providing the information that should be available under the act. Greater access to information will allow citizens to make more informed decisions about the performance of their government and understand how their resources are being used as part of the process of governance.; What is the commitment?: The commitment is for the appointment of additional Public Information Officers in all counties and to provide additional trainings to ensure they can fulfil their mandate and responsibilities as they relate to the FoI Act.; How will the commitment contribute to solve the public problem?: The commitment will strengthen the supply side of FoI by ensuring that the government can provide information to citizens; and the demand side of information- by making the process of obtaining information easier for citizens, bolstering trust in the process and leading to more FoI requests.; Why is this commitment relevant to OGP values?: Meaningful citizen participation depends on the public’s ability to access information. This commitment allows access by the general public to data held by the national government. Full implementation of the Act will enables accountability, transparency and citizen participation.; Additional information: Budget for the implementation of this commitment will come from the Open Society Institute for West Africa (OSIWA)

3. Implementation of the Freedom of Information Act (FOI)

Language of the commitment as it appears in the action plan:

"The commitment is for the appointment of additional Public Information Officers in all counties and to provide additional trainings to ensure they can fulfil their mandate and responsibilities as they relate to the FoI Act.

"The commitment will strengthen the supply side of FoI by ensuring that the government can provide information to citizens; and the demand side of information- by making the process of obtaining information easier for citizens, bolstering trust in the process and leading to more FoI requests."

Milestones:

1. Appointment of additional Public Information Officers in all counties and trainings.
2. Training of PIOs on the online Freedom of Information platform developed.
3. Training for PIOs on how to generate frequently requested documents;
4. Information Commission provides quarterly reports on progress and use of FoI law.

Editorial Note: For the complete text of this commitment, please see Liberia's action plan at: https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/liberia-action-plan-2017-2019/

This commitment aimed to appoint and train public information officers in all 15 counties and assemble and make accessible quarterly reports on progress and adherence to the Freedom of Information (FOI) law. The commitment sought to address low public awareness and usage of public information and weak government adherence to FOI mandates. ^[21] It builds on prior commitments in Liberia's 2013 and 2015 action plans to increase citizens' access to information.

In 2010, Liberia was the first West African nation to implement a FOI law. However, citizens and public officials exhibit limited understanding and use of the law. ^[22] At the time of this commitment's formulation, there were 57 designated public information officers in central ministries, agencies, and commissions. Most also served in other roles, such as public relations officers, with their public information officer role being an additional, and sometimes conflicting, responsibility. ^[23] Additionally, the Independent Information Commission's (IIC) budget constraints limited coordination with civil society. A civil society organization, iLab, created the infoLib website in 2016 to simplify, expedite, and track requests for government information. ^[24]

This commitment was substantially completed this commitment by the end of the implementation period. Due to the IIC's work with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, 15 additional public information officers were appointed to counties (Milestone 1). The commission and civil society trained public information officers on how to facilitate requests for information under the FOI law using infoLib and off-line sources (Milestones 2 and 3). The IIC held only two workshops in Monrovia, due to limited funds. However, civil society organizations such as the Carter Center Liberia, Open Society Initiative for West Africa, and the Center for Media Studies and Peace Building provided further public information officer training. ^[25]

The United States Agency for International Development contracted the nongovernmental organization Internews to provide technical assistance to the IIC for its website, infoLib, and other activities. However, the IIC reports that this assistance did not materialize, and therefore, infoLib continues to be managed outside the government by iLab. Moreover, the IIC did not publish quarterly reports (Milestone 4), as "nothing had been happening during [the implementation period]." ^[26] Therefore, this commitment was substantially rather than fully completed.

This commitment's activities had a marginal effect on opening government. The IIC and the Carter Center noted that the appointment of additional public information officers increased the government's capacity to respond to requests for information. ^[27] However, the IRM researcher was unable to confirm whether information requests or government responses increased as a result of implementation. Additionally, this commitment's activities are identical to activities carried out in Liberia's second national action plan and therefore do not represent a significant change in government practices. ^[28]