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No. 2
Right to Access Information Act
2013
(a) to have the public authority confirm or deny
whether it holds information of the
description specified in the request; and
(b) where the public authority holds information
of the description specified in the request,
to have the information communicated to
that person
(5) A public authority shall be deemed to have complied
with subsection (4) if it has communicated the information to the
applicant.
(6) In this Act, the duty of a public authority to comply
with paragraph (a) of subsection (4) shall be referred to as “the duty
to confirm or deny”.
Submission
and form of
request.
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No. 2
Right to Access Information Act
2013
(a) contact details; and
(b) sufficient particulars for the public information
officer or any other official to understand
what information is being requested.
(4) A public information officer who receives an oral
request shall reduce the request to writing, including the public
information officer’s name and designation and shall give a copy
thereof to the applicant.
(5) Notwithstanding subsection (3), an application may,
if the applicant is unable to communicate in English, be made in any
other local language in use in Sierra Leone: and in that event the
public information officer to whom the application is made shall arrange
for a translation of the application into English.
(1) A request for information under section 2 shall–
(a) be made in writing;
(b) describe the information requested; and
(c) provide an address, which may be an email,
for purposes of correspondence.
(2) For the purposes of paragraph (a) of subsection (1), a
request shall be deemed to be made in writing where the text of the
request–
(a) is transmitted by electronic means;
(b) is received in legible form; and
(6) Where a request for information does not comply with
subsection (3), the public information officer who receives the request
shall render such reasonable assistance, free of charge, as may be
necessary to enable the request to comply with that subsection.
(7) A request referred to in subsection (6) shall not be
deemed to have been rejected while assistance is being rendered.
(8) A public authority may determine the form for requests
for information, but the form shall not be such as to unreasonably
delay requests or place an undue burden upon applicants; and no
application may be rejected on the ground only that the applicant
has not used the prescribed form.
(c) is capable of being used for subsequent
reference.
(9) A public authority which receives a request for
information shall provide the applicant with a receipt documenting
the request.
(3) An application to access information shall be made
in English or Krio by email, fax, post, telephone or by any other
medium provided that the applicant provides–
(10) A public authority shall record and maintain records
of all requests for information and all public transactions in a manner
that facilitates the right to information.
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