An Access to Information Act has been approved in Zambia, with President Hakainde Hichilema, pictured, calling it a major milestone in the media sector and the country.
Zambia becomes the latest country in Southern Africa to introduce such an act, after Namibia in 2022.
Access to information legislation has been a contentious issue for decades in Zambia, with successive administrations all promising to enact the law, but not fulfilling their promises.
The Act empowers the Human Rights Commission to sanction bodies or individuals that fail to provide information as requested, and it allows members of the public to make oral requests for information. This democratises access to information, as it includes those who cannot read or write.
Protecting whistleblowers
“The Act is a positive development as it protects whistleblowers who play a pivotal role in making government and other institutions transparent and curbs corruption,” said Tabani Moyo, regional director of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA).
While Zambia has finally enacted access to information legislation, MISA noted that there were areas that still need improvement.
For example, it said, the Act does not factor-in late appeals, and the appeal procedure needs to be outlined in greater detail.
There is no clause concerning declassification of information. Certain information that might have been not for public consumption 20 years ago, might now be fit to be released, MISA noted.
“Giving freedom to the minister to make regulations under the legislation should not include the freedom to make additional exemptions of information as noted by Section 40(c). As currently worded, it would give the minister powers to exempt certain categories and classes of information from disclosure, which categories and classes are not specifically mentioned in the access to information legislation,” MISA said.
