MONROVIA – A right citizens do not know they have is a right they cannot use. That was the working premise of the Independent Information Commission (IIC) on Monday. It marked International Day for Universal Access to Information by leaving the conference hall. Its team spoke at a university campus and in the Slipway and Logan Town communities. Officials explained how to request information and what public institutions owe the public. They described officers, review bodies and annual reports as the machinery of compliance. Executive Director Lorpu Page framed the test plainly. The law’s value lies in whether people use it. As THE ANALYST’s H. Matthew Turry reports, the burden now shifts to ministries and agencies to answer citizens.
The Independent Information Commission (IIC) on Monday, September 28, 2026, marked the International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI) with a day-long public awareness campaign.
The campaign carried the Freedom of Information (FOI) message out of formal venues and into a university campus and two communities, and it ended with a call for Liberians to move from knowing about the law to using it.
The Commission used the occasion to put one central question to students, residents and people from different walks of life. The question was how ordinary people can understand and effectively use their right to information.
From Campus to Community
The outreach began at the African Methodist Episcopal University (AMEU) on Camp Johnson Road. It then moved to the Slipway Community and on to Logan Town on Bushrod Island. At each stop, the IIC team spoke directly with residents about the purpose of Liberia’s FOI Law and the practical ways citizens can use it to obtain information from public institutions.
The engagements were designed not only to inform but also to demystify the FOI process. Residents were encouraged to see that requesting information from the government is a lawful exercise of a public right.
After members of the Commission held scattered engagements with residents in Logan Town, the team proceeded to the Contemporary Intellectual Museum. The museum was the final venue, hosting a broader discussion on the history, importance and practical application of the right to information.
Global Right, Local Application
At the museum, William Jeremiah Tunning told participants that September 28 represents more than an annual observance. He explained that the day is tied to the long-standing global recognition that people must be able to seek, receive and share information in order to participate meaningfully in society.
He linked the principle to Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which recognizes the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas. Access to information, he said, has increasingly become associated with democratic participation, transparency, accountability, sustainable development and the ability of citizens to understand decisions that affect their lives.
Tunning traced the day’s international recognition through key milestones. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) proclaimed September 28 the International Day for Universal Access to Information in 2015, with the first global observance held in 2016. The United Nations (UN) General Assembly then proclaimed it a UN international day in October 2019, giving the observance a wider international framework.
He also drew attention to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16, particularly Target 16.10, which calls for public access to information and the protection of fundamental freedoms. Technology, he observed, has changed what universal access means.
In an increasingly digital society, he said, it is not enough that information exists. It must also be findable, understandable, available in a timely manner and delivered through channels that are meaningful to different segments of society.
Tunning urged participants to regard information as an essential resource for accountability. When the public obtains information, he said, people are better positioned to understand public decisions, engage public institutions, monitor the delivery of services and take part in issues affecting their communities.
How to Make a Request
IIC Acting Outreach Director Jutomue Doetein focused on the practical use of the law. He walked participants through the rights guaranteed to the public under Liberia’s FOI framework and explained the basic process for seeking information.
His presentation covered preparing and submitting an information request, identifying the public institution responsible for the information and understanding what kinds of information can be requested. Doetein stressed that the FOI process should not be seen as complicated or out of reach for ordinary people.
He encouraged citizens to become familiar with the process and to use the law responsibly whenever they need information within the scope of public access. Public awareness, he said, is essential to the law’s effectiveness, because citizens cannot exercise a right they do not know they have.
Duties of Public Institutions
IIC Acting Compliance Director Armah Boimah Johnson turned to the corresponding responsibilities of government bodies. He explained that compliance begins long before a citizen walks into a public office or submits a request.
Johnson highlighted proactive disclosure as a critical part of the FOI framework. Public institutions, he said, should make relevant categories of information available without requiring individual requests for material that ought to be disclosed. He outlined the categories that fall within the framework and stressed that the information must be accessible and available in accordance with the law.
“Public Information Officers (PIOs) in ministries, agencies and commissions, who play a central role in receiving, processing and facilitating responses to requests and serve as a link between institutions and citizens should be structured,” Johnson said.
He added: “Internal Information Review and Redress Bodies (IIRRBs) within public institutions, to provide an internal mechanism for reviewing information-access issues, and an annual reporting by PIOs, which creates a record of FOI implementation, including requests received, responses provided and areas needing improvement.”
Together, Johnson said, these mechanisms help move FOI compliance from a reactive approach, responding only after a request arrives, toward a structured culture of openness and institutional accountability.
‘From Awareness to Practical Use’
The day closed with a strong call from IIC Executive Director Lorpu Page for citizens to move from awareness to practical use of the law. She stressed that the law’s significance cannot be measured by its existence on the statute books.
Its real value, she said, lies in whether citizens know about it, understand it and can use it to obtain information that is lawfully accessible. Page highlighted the link between access to information, transparency and accountability in public-sector management, and encouraged participants to view the FOI Law as a practical civic tool.
She urged them to take what they learned back to their communities and share it, so that awareness of the right to information reaches beyond those who attended. The Commission said the observance was built around more than the marking of an international calendar date.
It combined community outreach, historical education, practical instruction and public dialogue. For the IIC, the commemoration was another opportunity to bring the FOI Law closer to the people and to strengthen public understanding of the role access to information plays in transparency, accountability, participation and responsive governance in Liberia.