By Vicky Ojo

An expert has declared that in order for government to promote transparency and accountability they should establish information databases that are easily accessible to the public. This declaration was made by the Executive Director of Centre for Community Informatics Research, Development and Training, Michael Gurstein.

He said this while speaking at a two-day training workshop for public officials on how to disseminate information to the public, organized by Society for Democratic Initiatives (SDI) in Freetown.

According to him, government can promote transparency in the country by informing citizens about their activities, which would promote the rule of law and strengthen citizens’ participation in governance.

By making information available to citizens and to the rest of the world, he said it would allow information sharing on agriculture investment and various economic sectors, to showcase to the world progress and lapses in the country.

He commended the passage of the Access to Information Bill into law, describing it as a step towards development in the country

“In India they found it difficult to pass the Freedom to Information bill into law but when they finally did it helped them greatly and they are now saying that it is the most important bill they had ever passed to law in India because it gives their citizens the power to know about the activities of their country,” he said.

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