30/10/2025
๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฌโ ๐๐จ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ง๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ๐จ๐ญ๐ ๐๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐๐ฌ ๐๐๐ง๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ
The new studentsโ executive of the Department of Information Studies and Knowledge Management at Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone, paid a courtesy call on the Right to Access Information Commission (RAIC) on Wednesday 29th October 2025 in a bid to cement the existing partnership between the RAIC and the studentsโ body.
Speaking on the purpose of their visit, Ms Lydia Franstacia John, the President of the studentsโ body, said there has been a change in student leadership at their department, adding that the visit was a way to familiarize themselves with the RAIC as a key partner in the nature of their course of study.
Ms John craved on the RAIC to assist her department with internship opportunities, recruitment of records professionals from her department, train information and knowledge management students on the mandate of the RAIC, support with learning materials on records/data, and for the the RAIC to deliver lecture organized by the student body, among other things.
Welcoming the studentsโ executive and responding to their requests, Dr Ibrahim Seaga Shaw, the Chairman and Information Commissioner of the Right to Access Information Commission, guided the students on the law, mandate and operations of the Commission in consonance with their subject area โ records management.
โWe are operating from a regulating angle on records as Section 27 of our Act provides for public authorities to have records officers; and at the end of every year, we monitor compliance to the said legal obligation. However, in terms of the recruitment of records officers, that is the responsibility of the Human Resources Management Office for now. But with the Records Management Bill now going to Parliament, the responsibility to recruit records officers would be transferred to the Ministry of Information and Civic Education. In other words, we donโt get involved in the recruitment; we just provide support and advice. We however enforce compliance, and provide capacity building for records officers and information officers from time to time as they are the frontline officers in providing the enabling environment for access to information. If you donโt have records of information, it is difficult for you to provide access,โ he explained.
Dr Seaga Shaw assured the studentsโ body of continuously including them in the activities of the Commission, especially in areas of records management, but expressed current financial challenges to add interns to their current workforce of the Commission.
โOn your internship request, the challenge we have presently is that of funding as we are seriously challenged financially. We donโt want a situation of having interns working with us that cannot duly get their stipends or allowances. However, when the financial strength is there, we would be very happy to have interns as internship is a great learning curve for students in acquiring practical skills and abilities,โ Dr Shaw noted.
The RAIC boss however advised and encouraged the students to explore their internship quest in other institutions, especially bigger public institutions with much larger funding and opportunities.
Expressing profound passion to get students engaged in hands-on internship programs, Dr Sega Shaw assured the students that his office can provide recommendation letters in case the students need them in securing such opportunities elsewhere.
โWe want more people like you to go into those jobs as you are records professionals that can perform at the highest level in records management.โ
He also assured the studentsโ body that the RAIC welcomes their public lectures intentions, noting that the Commission would participate in them anytime they are organized.
Dr Shaw further encouraged the students to use the access to information law to acquire relevant information from public authorities for research and other purposes. โIf you request for information, not exempted by our Act, and a public authority refuses to grant you such information, you can come to us. That is why we are here to facilitate access to information,โ he stated.
The head of the countryโs information regulatory agency referred the students to the official website [www.raic.gov.sl] of the Commission to gain free access to materials and articles that would enable them know everything about the Commission and its programs, activities and enforcement undertakings.
The students were provided with a records management training manual developed by the RAIC with funding from UNESCO. Dr Shaw informed the students that the RAIC has been given the continental mandate to develop a records management training manual for the whole of Africa, adding that work has begun as the consultants [one local, one international] have been hired by UNESCO and that work is in progress to have a records management model for Africa.
In her statement, Mrs Fanta Morgan, the Manager of Records and Open Data of RAIC, reiterated the commitment of the Commission in supporting the studentsโ body in areas the Commission is able to render support, while emphasizing the interdependent relationship between records management and access to information.
Kumba Kamanor, the Organizing Secretary of the studentsโ body,
thanked Dr. Seaga Shaw and the Right to Access Information Commission for what she called a โgreat learning opportunityโ and the continued inclusive efforts of the Commission.
The RAICโs Records and Open Data Manager took the students on a tour of the records and archival facilities of the Commission.
For media enquiries, contact:
Amara Thoronka
Public Information and Communications Officer
RAIC โ National Secretariat
+232 88 283632 / +232 78 231949
[email protected] / [email protected]
