In what appeared too true to be true, Zambia has assented and enacted the Freedom of Information Bill into law, more than 20 years since the campaigners kick-stated the lobby to have the freedom to report-truthfully-factually.
Over the years, various players including the Law Association of Zambia, various living and deceased journalists, Arthur Simuchoba, the Free Press Initiative and a consortium of Non-Governmental Organisations have raised the red flag over the delays.
They have argued that the on-compliance to people’s demands for the ATI to be enacted into law would further fuel concerns that previous and existing leadership do not support the much sought after Access to Information by the public on matters of governance.
Over 20 lawmakers deliberated in Parliament for hours Wednesday, December 13 and resolved to have the bill finally passed by President Hakainde Hichilema, which has now formally been made law.
This is close to three-decades since the Government was petitioned over the ATI, having been the ruling Government’s pre-election campaign.
The ruling Government-then as opposition United Party for National Development-assuring the media and other electorate of much sought after freedom to access classified information for the sake of the truth.
“This government is committed to promoting transparency and good governance by enhancing access to public information,” said Cornelius Mweetwa, the information minister and chief Government spokesperson.
The decision by the Government to table the proposed legislation in the House for debate, was a fulfillment of a campaign promise made by President Hichilema prior to the 2021 elections.
Mweetwa, however cautioned journalists to use the information accessed using the law responsibly and avoid riding on the new liberty to abuse the opportunity, which they have fought for years.
The Government Mweetwa argues is comfortable with the proposed law because the new administration was a proponent of ensuring the public resources benefited the citizens.
“The law will compel public officers to give public information to the broadest audience possible. For example, instead of an officer who is employing staff or procuring goods for a public body only disclosing the information to personal contacts, he or she will be required by law to publicise the information beyond friends and relatives,” he explained.
Minister Mweetwa urged Members of Parliament to work with the Government in sensitizing communities on how to ensure that the law benefitted them in accessing information of public interest.
His Justice counterpart, Mulambo Haimbe described the law as a milestone in accelerating media and people’s freedom to access information on governance.
He was certain the action by lawmakers had now dwarfed speculation by opposition elements, which suggested that Hichilema’s administration was flouting human rights.
“This government is committed to the rule of law and preserving Zambia as a bastion of democracy and good governance,” Haimbe said.
Zambia joins Angola, Malawi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Kenya, among other countries in Africa which were also used as benchmarking points on the bill.
According to a UNESCO report, 125 countries have enacted right to information laws. In 2022 by 39 countries and territories, the majority of Access to Information requests were granted.
Since Zambia’s independence, various Government documents have been classified, many leading into sedition and punishable by law, including fines.
Research by Sam Phiri, a renowned media practitioner Zambia, like a few other African countries, has been grappling with the adoption of the Access to Information (ATI) law over the past 25 years and has been stalling until now.
The Zambian approach towards easing access to public information has been faulty, because it is narrowly focused and this has resulted in the process stalling.
There have been arguments that ATI law is part of a global social movement towards greater transparency.
Various political leaders past and present have argued that allowing the media and the general citizenry to access various documents, including that classified, could bring the country into jeopardy.
Various media personnel, seeking to verify reports before generating into stories have faced challenges because many of the documents have been classified as ‘seditious’
Background: ATI
The “Access to Information Bill, National Assembly Bill 24 of 2023” has been on the discussion table since 2021. Several attempts have been made since Zambia’s independent in 1964 to refine the bill into law
Objects:
(a) Designate the Human Rights Commission as an oversight institution on matters relating to access to information;
(b) Provide for the right to access information and its limitations;
(c) Provide for procedures for processing requests for information;
(d) Give effect to the right to access information as guaranteed in the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights; and
(e) Provide for matters connected with, or incidental to, the foregoing.
The Access to Information (ATI), which is sometimes referred to as Freedom of Information (FOI) or the Right to Know (RTK) is premised on the idea that information that is held by state institutions or private institutions conducting business that is meant for public bodies and has implications for the public should be available for the public.
ATI is founded on the fact that public institutions or the state perform functions on behalf of the public, thus the information it holds is for the public and therefore the public should have access to it or the right to know.
This right is however, subjected to exceptions that include, public security and information relating to private individuals.
Access to Information is a fundamental human right that is provided for in various international and regional instruments such as Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (ACHPR).
Zambia having both ratified the ICCPR and the ACHPR, has an obligation as a member state to ensure that it enacts the laws that facilitate the actualization of this right.
