MONROVIA – The Governance Commission (GC) invited the Press Union of Liberia (PUL) to discuss transparency. It got a stinging indictment instead. PUL President Julius Kanubah used the Commission’s own Good Governance Month dialogue to deliver it. He accused the Boakai administration of systematically dismantling the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act. His target is the Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement civil servants are being made to sign through the Civil Service Agency (CSA). Kanubah says it reintroduces state secrecy and overrides the Independent Information Commission (IIC), which opposed it. He also accuses the GC itself of conspicuous, self-defeating silence. As THE ANALYST reports, the clash exposes a widening gap between the government’s transparency theme and its practice.
The Press Union of Liberia (PUL) has accused the administration of President Joseph Nyuma Boakai of systematically dismantling the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and effectively abolishing open-data practices across government, and has demanded the unconditional rescission of a confidentiality policy being imposed on civil servants.
PUL President Julius Kanubah made the call on October 23, 2026, at a two-day policy dialogue organized by the Governance Commission (GC) at the EJS Ministerial Complex in Congo Town in commemoration of October as the Month of Good Governance.
Kanubah, invited by letter dated October 6, 2026, to serve as a panelist during the first session of the second day, addressed the topic “Implementation of the Freedom of Information Act and Open-Data Practices Across Government.”
He described the assigned topic as profoundly significant, timely and necessary, but said its urgency stems not from the PUL’s expertise to lecture on it but from “a deeply troubling reality”: what he called the administration’s ongoing, systematic actions to dismantle the FOI Act.
The PUL President commended the GC for convening a diverse assembly of stakeholders under the theme “Promoting Good Governance through Accountability, Transparency, and Citizens’ Participation for Inclusive Development,” which he said strikes at the heart of sustainable nation-building.
He also applauded President Boakai for issuing the official proclamation declaring October as the Month of Good Governance, to which the dialogue was the Commission’s proactive response.
Non-Disclosure Pact Under Fire
According to Kanubah, the facts are glaring and starkly manifested in the newly minted Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement currently being forced upon all civil servants by the Executive through the Civil Service Agency (CSA), under the leadership of Director General Dr. Josiah Joekai.
The policy, he argued, does not merely chip away at democratic gains; it upends the FOI Act entirely.
In effect, the PUL President charged, the agreement undermines the lawmaking functions of the Legislature, strips the Independent Information Commission (IIC) of its statutory authority, reintroduces state secrecy and effectively recriminalizes the disclosure of public information by government workers.
He stated for the record that the policy was explicitly opposed by the IIC, the competent state authority legally mandated to enforce the FOI Act.
As one of the foundational stakeholders that championed the enactment of the FOI Act and the creation of the IIC, Kanubah said, the PUL is profoundly saddened by the administration’s decision “to weaponize confidentiality agreements against the public interest.”
He categorically called on the government to rescind the policy unconditionally, insisting that if it is genuinely committed to its stated theme of promoting accountability, transparency and inclusive development, it must align its actions with its rhetoric.
Kanubah also called on the GC to break its silence, warning that the Commission cannot afford to stand by passively while landmark transparency laws are hollowed out. “In the face of this policy, the Commission’s silence is conspicuous and self-defeating,” he declared.
The confidentiality policy, the PUL President noted, arrives at an already precarious moment.
While the passage of the FOI Act more than 15 years ago represented a monumental milestone for Liberia, he said, its practical implementation has continuously battled severe structural, financial and institutional roadblocks, and actively introducing policies that roll back these hard-won freedoms is “a step backward we cannot afford.”
FOI Implementation Hurdles Listed
Outlining the main challenges to FOI implementation, Kanubah cited a recent IIC audit which, he said, revealed that 78 out of 103 assessed ministries, agencies and commissions (MACs) had failed to appoint designated Public Information Officers (PIOs).
He also pointed to severe response delays and non-compliance, noting that government agencies routinely ignore or miss statutory deadlines; in one program supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), he said, journalists filed 104 FOI requests, and fewer than five received responses within 90 days.
The IIC itself, according to Kanubah, is an underfunded and weak oversight authority suffering chronic budget shortfalls. The commission, he said, has faced severe operational setbacks, including being evicted from its office over unpaid rent and operating from a basement without electricity.
He added that many public institutions lack centralized tracking systems for information requests and keep records in unorganized, non-digital formats, making retrieval slow or impossible. A default administrative culture of secrecy, weak enforcement mechanisms and inconsistent political commitment from state actors, he said, continue to undermine transparency.
Low public and media awareness compounds the problem, Kanubah observed. A lack of civic education, particularly among marginalized groups, rural communities and women, limits citizen demand for information, he said, leading journalists and citizens to view the law as ineffective.
Open-Data Gaps Exposed
On open-data practices, the PUL President noted that Liberia lacks a comprehensive, enforced data protection and privacy law, leaving citizens’ data vulnerable and stalling the safe publication of open government datasets. Although a draft law was validated in late 2024, he said, a national Data Authority has yet to be formally established.
He observed that although a majority of assessed government agencies have functional websites, almost none systematically publish key open data such as national budgets, expenditure reports or activity logs, with rare exceptions such as the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) and the MOI.
High internet access costs, poor rural-urban digital connectivity and widespread digital illiteracy, he added, restrict citizens from accessing online open-data repositories, as most Liberians still rely on traditional broadcast media such as radio rather than digital e-government platforms.
Finally, Kanubah warned of donor dependency, noting that open-government and open-data reforms remain heavily reliant on external donor funding, such as Open Government Partnership (OGP) and USAID programs, rather than sustained national budgetary allocations. That reliance, he said, makes long-term continuity fragile.