The Preamble of the 1997 Constitution states:
“This constitution provides for us a fundamental law, which affirms our commitment to freedom, justice, probity and accountability. It also affirms the principle that all power emanate from the sovereign will of the people.”
In short, all public bodies and officials should be motivated to be transparent and accountable and to subject themselves to probity when required.
This is buttressed by section 207 which gives the media the responsibility to hold the government accountable to the people. It states:
“The press and other information media shall at all times, be free to uphold the principles, provisions and objectives of this Constitution, and the responsibility and accountability of the Government to the people of The Gambia.”
But one must have access to information in order to hold the government accountable to the people. Hence the Access to Information Act was enacted on 18th August, 2021, three years ago.
According to the Act, every person has a right to access information from a public body. In short, section 11 states:
“Subject to this Act, every person has a right to access information from a public body.”
How can person access information from a public body. The Act makes it a requirement that every public body “designate a suitable officer of that body as information officer…” A person wishing to access information “may make a request in writing to the information officer of the concerned public body.” In general, the requester need not provide justification or reason for requesting any information.
Upon receiving the request from the requester, the information officer shall immediately provide a written acknowledgement of the request to the requester.
When the request is defective, the information officer is duty bound to “take all necessary steps to assist the person, free of charge, to make the request in a manner that complies with this Act.
According to section 14 of the Act, within 21 days after the request is submitted, the information officer shall determine whether to grant the request and notify the requestor of the decision in writing. If a reproduction or transcription is required, the fee will be paid and the information shall be given to the requester immediately.
What if the information officer refuses to grant access to information? When can the information officer do so?
