Freedom of information legislation is critical - Jolly

Freedom of information legislation is critical - Jolly
By Speedwell Mupuchi, Masuzyo Chakwe and Bright Mukwasa
Friday March 30, 2007 [02:00]

VISITING Norwegian special advisor to the Minister of Development Co-operation Eva Jolly has said freedom of information legislation is critical to the fight against corruption. At a media breakfast organised by Zambia Union of Journalists at InterContinental Hotel yesterday, Jolly said the fight against corruption demanded critical access to public information. She encouraged journalists to keep the impetus of fighting corruption to help eliminate poverty and imbalanced access to social services. "Access to information is very important and matters most in the investigation of corruption. There is need for legislations to be operational," Jolly said. "We cannot underrate the crucial role that the free press plays in the fight against corruption," Jolly said.

She said journalists needed to be free to request government and public officials for particular information, which was in the public interest. "My country has this in place. Officers could be asked to offer information of public importance by members of the public and journalists. Sometimes they even ask for bills public officers used on a trip and this promotes transparency," she said. Jolly said public officers needed to declare their assets before and after leaving office so that people could assess whether or not the wealth they amassed was reasonable. She urged Parliament to prioritise domestication of the African Union and UN conventions on corruption.

She also said donors intended to set up an asset recovery centre where they could train prosecutors on how to handle corruption cases and recovery of assets back to developing countries. "Maybe it could be set up in Brussels but anyway that's under discussion . We need such concrete measures to be able to repatriate resources back to developing countries affected by corruption," Jolly said.

And speaking at the same occasion, Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia executive director Bishop Paul Mususu (EFZ) said it was difficult to fight corruption because the press was muzzled. Bishop Mususu urged the international community to help Zambia domesticate many international instruments it committed itself to. He also hailed as progressive Jolly's comments on renegotiation of mine contracts. Bishop Mususu said no law was divinely ordained because people could renegotiate. "We have a lot of holes in our country where mining has taken place, all our wealth taken and nothing to show for the benefit of this country," Bishop Mususu said.

He said presently, it appeared government was only interested in a showpiece of mines opening and a booming economy without caring for Zambians. Bishop Mususu said there was a moral aspect of human life to the mining contracts. "That should come strongly in everything we do. Even if it was of a legal implication but morally is it fair the way we are doing it?" he said.

And at a dinner hosted for her at Norwegian Ambassador Terje Vigtel's residence on Wednesday night, Jolly praised the Task Force on Corruption for the wonderful work they were doing. She hoped that the Task Force's mandate would be reinforced and put into the constitution to enable it inquire into incidents happening now, not just those of the previous administration.

Jolly said there was no political will to go after corruption in most developing countries. She said there was a huge difference between what was being said and what was being done. And Ambassador Vigtel clarified that Jolly was not a senior World Bank advisor on corruption but a Norwegian government advisor who was carrying out an assignment for the World Bank.