The Acting Minister of the Ministry of Information, Cultural Affairs and Tourism, Hon. Johnny Tarkpah has reaffirmed the government of Liberia unwavering commitment to upholding the public rights to access information from its functionaries, adding that the government is duty-bound to provide public information to its people on its workings.

He spoke Tuesday September 23, 2025 at One-Day Freedom of Information Awareness, Compliance, Integrity Building and Anti-Corruption Training organized by the Independent Information Commission- IIC in collaboration with the Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia held at the  Ministerial Complex, precisely,  Dr. C.William Allen Conference Room at the Civil Service Agency - Liberia. 

Acting Minister Tarkpah commended the transformative and visionary Leadership of the Hodges -Page administration at the IIC for reviving Freedom of Information and making  practical focus on skills, system and standards that turn rights on paper into rights in practice.

He called on all MACs to comply with the FOI Law by appointing their PIOs and establishing their Internal Information Request Review Bodies as provided for under Chapter 3 section 3.6 and Chapter 6 section 6.2 respectively of the FOI Act.

Minister Tarkpah also used the occasion to call on the government of Liberia and its development partners to provide the necessary support to the IIC and its Initiatives as the Commission strives to deepen openness through enhancing public access to Information and combating corruption through  public scrutiny and citizens' engagements.

Minister Tarkpah emphasized that strengthening the IIC is essential to ensuring the effective implementation and enforcement of the FOI Act.

He urged the  Center for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (CENTAL) to continue and expand its support for the IIC Compliance initiatives to reinforce the culture of openness and accountability.

He also called on public officials and Employees of the Government of Liberia to uphold the highest level of Integrity, professionalism and ethical standards in their discharge of their duties. He noted that transparency is only meaningful when accompanied by honesty and accountability.

More importantly, he called on participants to translate the Training into tangible Institutional actions and consolidate Liberia's Progress towards transparency and accountability through commitment, compliance and cooperation.

In his closing comments, he called on the National Legislature to ensure the timely passage of the Personal Data Protection and privacy Bill to ensure protection of personal information.