Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has named Mark Bedor-Wla Freeman, Sr., a Liberian journalist turned lawyer working with the UN Mission in Liberia, to be the nation’s first information commissioners, according to an article in The Informer.
Freeman was the president and vice president of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL). In 2009 he was named as the chairman of the Independent National Commission on Human Rights. Freeman previously worked for the Inquirer newspaper in the 1990s.
His nomination needs to be confirmed by the Liberian senate.
The position of Information Commissioner was created in the 2010 Freedom of Information Act. The commissioner reviews agency FOI decisions and reviews the operation of the law, among other duties.
Sirleaf recently signaled her intent to make the appointment. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.)
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