The Access to Information Coalition, an alliance of 29 Civil Society Organisations that are dedicated to making access to information a reality in Zambia has commended for approving in principle the introduction of the Access to Information (ATI) Bill to the National Assembly.
ATI Coalition Chairperson Fr. Alex Muyebe states that by taking this step, the government is showing its dedication to fighting corruption in Zambia, and to building a democratic environment where government is transparent and accountable to the people.
And as the government prepares the draft Bill for introduction to the National Assembly, the ATI Coalition has invited all members of parliament to keep the ideals of transparency, accountability and citizen participation at the forefront of their minds. These ideas represent the foundation of this law.
Fr. Muyebe states that this law is not a ‘bedroom bill’, which will be used by the media to obtain private information of politicians in order to embarrass them, stating that this law is not primarily aimed at the media at all as its core beneficiaries are the people of Zambia, who desire to collaborate with the government as it seeks to break new ground in Zambian political history.
He adds Zambia has been waiting since the 1990s for this law and certain core aspects should be added including a supremacy clause to position the ATI law as the benchmark for all legislation dealing with access to information, suitable protection for whistle-blowers, adequate clauses dealing with the cost of providing information to stakeholders, a limited freedom of the Minister to make legislation by regulation and a clause in the legislation deeming that a non-response to a request for information is deemed a refusal after a stipulated time period.
