Parliament Must Not Pass A Weaker DPRAI Bill
By Edward Marah
There is a saying in Sierra Leone: “If you want to kill a dog, you give it a bad name.”
That is exactly what is happening to the Data Protection and Right to Access Information Bill laid in Parliament last week by the Minister of Information, Chernor Bah.
On paper, the Bill looks like progress. Government says it wants to expand the mandate of the Right to Access Information Commission (RAIC) to include data protection, to strengthen it and save money.
In reality, the Bill laid in Parliament is not the Bill that Sierra Leoneans agreed on.
It is not the Bill that stakeholders validated at the Miatta Conference Centre. It is not the Bill that was consulted in the regions. It is a different Bill – a weaker Bill, a more controlled Bill, a Bill that dismantles what RAIC has built over 10 years.Parliament must not be fooled. Parliament must not pass it as it is.
#1. A Law That Does Not Cover Private Bodies Is A Toothless Law
Let us be blunt.
In 2026, who holds your personal data? Is it the Ministry? Or is it Africell, Orange, Qcell, the banks, the hospitals, the schools, Facebook, the supermarkets, the loan apps?
It is the private bodies.
If the new law does not apply to private bodies that hold information needed for the enforcement of a right, and to private institutions that collect and process personal data, then what is the law for?
The consultation draft applied to both public and private bodies. The RAI Act 2013 already does. South Africa, Albania, Morocco, UK, and Germany, all do.
Why would Sierra Leone, in 2026, go backwards?
To remove private bodies is to give Orange, Africell, the banks, the private hospitals a free pass to abuse your data and hide information that you need to protect your rights. That is not reform. That is surrender.
# 2. Independence With An ‘Exception’ Is Not Independence
This is the most dangerous trick in the Bill.
The old law, Section 37 of the RAI Act 2013, is clear and strong:
“The Commission shall not be subject to the decisions or control of any person or authority.”
That one sentence made Sierra Leone *No. 5 in the world in 2019* and *No. 11 in 2025* for the most robust access to information law. That one sentence got us accredited to the International Conference of Information Commissioners and the African Network of Information Commissions. That one sentence put us on their Executive Boards.
Now the new Bill says:
“…shall not be subject to… any person or authority, except as provided by this Act or any other law.”
Seven words. Seven words that destroy independence.
What does “except” mean? It means any Minister, any law; any regulation can be used tomorrow to control the Commission. It means independence today, interference tomorrow.
No country in the world has an independence clause with this caveat. Why should Sierra Leone be the first to invent it?
If Parliament allows this caveat to stay, we will lose our global ranking, we will lose our accreditation, and worst of all, we will lose the trust of citizens who believe RAIC can stand up to a powerful Minister, a powerful MDA, a powerful company.
Independence cannot have an exception. Either you are independent, or you are not.
# 3. You Cannot Strengthen RAIC By Dismantling It
Minister Bah told the nation: RAIC has done a fantastic job, we will expand it, we will not disrupt it.
Then the Bill creates a ceremonial Board Chairman, a Director-General whose appointment is not even explained, and two Deputy Directors-General who do not know who they report to.
Is that strengthening? Or is that dismantling by confusion?
The stakeholders agreed on something simple and cheap: Keep the Executive Chairman as CEO. Keep the Regional Commissioners. Add just two new Commissioners – one for Data Protection, one for Access to Information. Total: 7. Cost: only 2 new salaries.
Instead, the Bill creates a whole new bureaucracy: Chairman + 8 Board members + DG + 2 Deputy DGs, all to be paid fees approved by the Minister, with no clear source of funding.
Who pays them? The Minister. Who controls them? The Minister who approves their pay.
That is not a functional Commission. That is a ceremonial club that meets to collect sitting fees, while the real work is left in chaos.
Sierra Leone already has working models: ACC, EPA, ECSL, Human Rights Commission – all have functional executive boards. Why invent a broken one for RAIC?
# 4. When The Minister Decides The Fine, The Minister Decides The Outcome
The consultation draft was clear: Le20, 000 for individuals, Le100, 000 for institutions for ATI breaches; Le20, 000 / Le200,000 for Data Protection breaches.
The Parliament Bill says: “such penalty as the Minister may prescribe.”
So if a Ministry close to the Minister breaks the law, will the Minister punish his friend? If a company close to government abuses your data, will the Minister fine them heavily?
This is not how independent regulation works. The law must state the maximum penalty. The Commission must decide the fine. The Minister makes policy, not case-by-case punishment.
To give the Minister this power is to give him a remote control over the Commission.
#5. You Cannot Delete Whistleblowers And Call It Progress
How can a new law that is supposed to be better than the old law delete the protection of whistleblowers?
Sections 50 and 51 of the RAI Act protect those brave Sierra Leoneans who expose corruption. Section 28 forces every MDA to have a Public Information Officer. Sections 43 to 48 give RAIC power to enforce.
All deleted. All gone.
What kind of “reform” removes the very tools that make the law work? That is not reform. That is regression.
And to add insult, the name change agreed by all stakeholders – from DPRAI to *RAIDPC*, because Data Protection is joining RAI, not the other way round – was also ignored. Even the small things were ignored. How can we trust the big things were respected?And how can we call it “national consultation” when Kenema was never consulted, and Bo staff were never invited? Consultation without the South and East is not national. It is selective.
Parliament Must Do Its Job
This is now in the hands of Parliament.
Parliament must not rubber-stamp a Bill that the people who will implement it say is flawed. Parliament must not pass a Bill that weakens a Commission that made Sierra Leone proud globally.
We call on the Parliamentary Committee on Information, the Legislative Committee, and all MPs – Government and Opposition – to:
1. Restore application to private bodies
2.Delete the “except” caveat and restore full independence
3. Restore a functional Executive Board led by a Chairman and Commissioner-General
4. Restore fixed fines in the law
5. Restore PIOs, Whistleblower Protection and Enforcement sections
6. Change the name to RAIDPC as agreed
Fix it now. Do not pass it and promise to amend it later. In Sierra Leone, we know what happens to “later” it never comes.
Sierra Leone fought hard to be No. 5 in the world for access to information. We did not fight to be No. 5 to become No. 100 because we passed a weaker law in the name of progress.
Information is power. Data is power. And an independent Commission is the only guard that ensures that power belongs to the people, not to the Minister, not to the powerful, not to the private companies.
Parliament, do not kill the law that made Sierra Leone proud. Fix it.