PUBLIC STATEMENT
Public Institutions Fail to Comply with Access to Information Act 2021
The Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice informs the public that after submitting requests for information to six public institutions on 14th October 2024, all of them failed to comply with the Access to Information law as required. The six institutions we wrote to requesting information are the following:
1. The Office of the President
2. Ministry of Lands, Regional Governments and Religious Affairs
3. Ministry of Fisheries and Water Resources
4. State-Owned Enterprises Commission
5. The Gambia Tourism Board (GTBoard)
6. The Gambia Ports Authority (GPA)
The Access to Information Act grants rights to citizens to request information from public bodies which have 21 days to respond. Section 14 provides that the public body should inform the requester in writing whether to provide the information or provide reasons if not.
After we submitted our requests to the six public institutions, only two of them, GPA and GTBoard, responded within the stipulated time but failed to provide the information requested.
According to GTBoard, they will need to first review their internal processes and data to determine if the information can be shared, and then inform us of the outcome of the review. Our request to GPA was for them to provide the amount and source of revenue collected between January 2017 to December 2023. Until today, they have not informed us of their review.
On its part, GPA said they cannot share the contract they signed with Albayrak Group of Turkey because of a conditionality but will make the document available on the GPA website in January 2025. Our request was for GPA to provide the signed Concession Agreement between the Gambia Ports Authority and Albayrak Group of Turkey for the expansion of Banjul Port and the development of a new deep seaport in Sanyang.
We hold that all the public institutions have violated the Access to Information Act which was created purposely to uphold the rights of citizens to access public information thereby ensure transparency and accountability. The ATI Act is crucial in the fight against corruption and abuse of office.
We have already notified the Information Commission of this violation. We reserve the right to take legal action against these public institutions.
In the Spirit of Edward Francis Small, For The Gambia Our Homeland
