Anti corruption commissioner Abdul Tejan Cole yesterday stated that the concept of Freedom Of Information (FOI) does not run contrary to the issue of asset declaration.

He was speaking to civil society organizations during the presentation of the draft Bill to him at office in Freetown

According to the ACC boss, the commission was in full support of the freedom of information campaign in the country and lauded the effort of civil society groups in the campaign.

He said before he became commissioner he had been in support of the campaign.

Further underscoring the importance of FOI, Abdul Tejan Cole said, the commission cannot fight corruption alone in the country, taking into cognizance the challenges they are faced with, and as such, called on civil society groups to help in that direction.

"Without civil society groups on board, we cannot discharge our mandates properly. Help us by educating people about the new ACC bill..." Cole pleaded.

Relating FOI to the issue of asset declaration, Tejan Cole said, over the years it has being misunderstood that declaring asset in secret will go against the principles of Freedom Of Information.

He however cautioned that even though the law provides for asset declaration to be done in secret, such provision in the ACC Bill will not remain forever.

'The law provides for asset declaration in secret because we came from a situation where there is no culture of asset declaration and we never wanted to see a situation wherein the Bill would not be enacted if it had allowed for declaration of asset in public...'Cole said. And further explained that, the commission decided to get asset declaration first and then 'we will look out for it to be public later'.

He further emphasized that Freedom Of Information does not run contrary to asset declaration 'since the current law wont last forever'. He also spoke on the challenges the commission is currently faced with, among them is trying to get a computerized database system for asset declaration. He implored on civil society to keep working with the ACC.

Officially presenting the draft FOI Bill to the Commission, SDI's Executive Director, Emmanuel Saffa-Abdulai said, civil society groups are mindful of the importance of Freedom Of Information in the fight against corruption. He said over the years, civil society groups, headed by SDI have drafted the Bill and that; they are currently lobbying parliament and government for it to be enacted, when taken to parliament.

According to Saffa Abdulai 'we believe in the ACC crusade and we have been doing a lot to help fight against corruption...' His organization, he went on, has attempted to simplify the new ACC act but that they were told the ACC has done that, but pledged his continuous support to the ACC.

He called on the ACC to give a representation to the FOI campaign 'as we want to show the importance of the law to every Sierra Leonean', Saffa Abdulai said.

In response, the ACC Boss called on SDI to give them time to look at the draft Bill before giving the commission's input to it.