Zambia: An elusive access to information law

FREE and open access to public information by citizens is one of the hallmarks of a well-functioning democracy. Zambia like many other peer African countries continues to defer and to an extent frustrate citizens’ efforts to have easy access to information on the operations of government for them to hold their leaders to account.

Nearly two decades ago Zambia began drafting what it called the Freedom of Information Bill which has now evolved into the Access To Information (ATI) Bill. However there has been consistent deferment of the date of introduction of the Bill to Parliament despite assurance that the Bill was approved by Cabinet.

 Open access to information legislation are contentious on the African content and some commentators have argued that they have no meaningful impact on access to information by the media and little evidence exists that points to the extent to which they actually assist investigative journalism.

An interesting argument for and against freedom of information is put forward herein part alluding to huge costs associated with Freedom of Information e.g. resource costs (some has to handle your query), IT equipment and the need for an Information Regulator.

Many commentators caution that access to information does not necessarily lead to greater citizen participation, state accountability and state responsiveness.  In the publication, TOPIC GUIDE ON COMMUNICATION AND GOVERNANCE, authored by Huma Haider, Claire Mcloughlin and Zoë Scott Produced in collaboration with the Communication for Governance and Accountability Program (CommGAP) it is observed as follows:

“In many developing countries, there are real structural and political barriers which hinder both the capacity and incentives of governments to produce information, and the ability of citizens to claim their right to information and to use it to demand better governance and public services. These barriers include:

• Government may not be actively supportive of the right to information, particularly in contexts where there is a legacy of undemocratic political systems or closed government.

• Citizens may not be aware of their legal right to information, or, in some cases may be reluctant to assert it, either because of fear of a repressive regime, or a prevailing culture of not questioning authority. In other cases, there are structural barriers to poor people accessing and using information. For example, access to the Internet remains low in many developing countries, particularly in remote areas.

• The capacity of public bodies to provide information may be weak, and officials may be unaware of their obligations. In low capacity environments, record management and statistics generation may be insufficient to support access to information”

The above observations are absolutely correct in the context of Zambia where government continues to cite state security concerns for the delay in putting in place legislation on Access to Information.

On 19th March 2019, the Zambia Daily Mail publication carried a headline, “Access to Information Bill Approved.” It was reported that cabinet had approved the Access to Information Bill through a tweet from Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services, Hon. Dora Siliya. In the tweet, Ms. Siliya said that the bill was meant to promote proactive and organised dissemination of information to the public. She tweeted: “I am happy to announce that finally cabinet has approved the Access to Information Bill aimed at proactive and organised dissemination of information. This is a new beginning.”

The debate on enactment of the ATI has been ongoing since the year 2002. Before the Patriotic Front government came into power, it promised to enact the Access to Information Bill. For seven years, the debate for the bill has raged on. In November 2011 shortly after assuming power, the then Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Mr. Given Lubinda said government was committed to enacting the bill into law. In February 2012, the then Permanent Secretary in the same ministry Mr. Amos Malupenga said the bill would be presented to parliament. In July 2013, the then Minister of Information, Kennedy Sakeni, also assured the nation that the bill would be presented to parliament. To date, the bill has gone only up to the cabinet approval stage. Despite scoring on the approval of the bill by cabinet, government has been taken to task on the publication of the contents of the bill. Stakeholders have argued that the contents of the bill should be publicised so that the public is kept in the know. In response to calls for publication of the contents of the bill, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Chanda Kasolo on 27th March,2019, was quoted in the Daily Mail Newspaper Publication advising stakeholders and individuals calling for the publication of the contents of the Access to Information (ATI) Bill to be patient.

On 7th February, the Lusaka Times online Publication carried a headline, “Access To Information Bill Will Not Be Presented In The Next Sitting Of Parliament” and attributed the statement to Information and Broadcasting Permanent Secretary Chanda Kasolo saying that the Access to Information Bill will not be presented in the next sitting of Parliament which opens on Tuesday 14th February, 2019. True to his word this never happened.

His justification for the move was that government wanted to ensure that caution is taken especially on security matters before the bill is enacted into law. Mr. Kasolo added that the bill will adequately be prepared so that there are no lacunas. The PS’s statement came before the bill was presented to cabinet and stakeholders cast doubt on the process owing to the flip-flopping stance taken by government