The Sierra Leone Freedom of Information Coalition March 28 wrote to President Ernst Bai Koroma expressing “disappointment concerning the delays associated with the enactment of the Right to Access Information Bill.”
Promised action on the bill has been postponed by a series of delays in Parliament. The letter chronicled:
It was anticipated that the Bill would be passed on 10 March 2011 but the matter was not reached on this date because Parliament has no quorum. On 15 March 2011 the enactment of the Bill was adjourned following a request made on behalf of the People’s Movement for Democratic Change Member of Parliament on the same untenable excuse. Further delays arose when the Bill was scheduled to be passed on 21 March 2011 but to no avail.
The letter notes the president’s past support for FOI legislation dating back to 2005 and commitments made by Koroma and his ministers at international conferences in 2009 and 2010 to pass a bill.
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