Freedom of information laws and information access

Abstract

Sierra Leone was engulfed in a destructive civil war between 1991 and 2002. The civil war was partly caused by the non-accountability of the government, endemic corruption, misrule and the mismanagement of the country's resources. Efforts have been made by the country, with the help of the international community, to embrace a democratic dispensation. To demonstrate its commitment to the democratization agenda, Sierra Leone passed the Right to Access Information (RAI) Act in 2013. The Act guarantees access to government information and also imposes a penalty on failure to make information available. However, Sierra Leone's state institutions are still weak due to mismanagement and lack of transparency and accountability. Freedom of expression and access to information are cornerstones of modern democracies. Public information/records are a means of power that governments and other political institutions use to exercise control over citizens, but are also a means of citizens' empowerment. Through access to government information/records, media can play their watchdog role and people can assess the performance of governments and hold them accountable. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate the fact that it is not enough to enact freedom of information laws (FOIs) if there is no political will to make government information accessible, an information management infrastructure to facilitate the creation, capture, management, dissemination, preservation and re-use of government information and investments in civil education to promote an information culture that appreciates information as a resource that underpins accountability and transparency.The free flow of information hinges on a well-functioning information infrastructure.

Factors and their relationships in measuring the progress of open government

“…To emphasize a legal dimension, the Open Government Index (OGI), developed by the World Justice Project (2017), assesses the state of open government with a focus on legal rights, public availability, right to information, and civil rights and provides individual, regional and global scores and rankings for countries. Some studies investigate the access to information act or freedom of information act as important legal factors in assessing government advancements (Kuunifaa, 2012; Omotayo, 2015; Worthy, 2015; Razzano, 2016; Svärd, 2017, 2018). Because access to information is dealt with as a basic human right, and public bodies are obliged to provide the public with access to information about their activities, citizens have the right to request and receive information from public officials (Access Info Europe, n.d.a).…”

The role of records management in ensuring good governance in Africa

“…For government to achieve not only good governance, but also effective service delivery and accountability, good records management practices must be a norm (Chaterera 2016). This is because records and information are a source of power to exercise control over citizens, and they empower them (Svärd 2017). In addition, records enable the media to play its watchdog role over government's ability Among a host of problems of managing records in ESARBICA member states is low appreciation for the role records management plays in promoting organisational efficiency and accountability (Wamukoya & Mutula 2005).…”

Determinantes de la divulgación de información en las universidades Latinoamericanas para un buen gobierno corporativo

“…La divulgación de la información requiere de la capacidad de producirla y distribuirla de manera eficiente, máxime si la divulgación se mide con base en los contenidos generados por un adecuado y eficaz instrumento, como las páginas Web (Midin et al, 2017;Gandia et al, 2016;Nazuk y Shabbir, 2018;Da-Silva et al, 2017;Carrillo et al, 2017). Svard (2017) indica que no es posible realizar una divulgación eficiente y eficaz si no se cuenta con una infraestructura de gestión de la información para facilitar la creación, captura, gestión y difusión, preservación y reutilización de la información, esto implica recursos y, como indican Bearfield y Bowman (2017), el tamaño de las organizaciones afecta el logro de la divulgación, ya que las más pequeñas tendrán menos recursos para desarrollar una capacidad de divulgación acorde a las necesidades y por eso, para el caso estudiados por ellos, las municipalidades sugieren que se utilicen recursos gubernamentales para la falta de recursos.…”