It's not ours: it's yours

It's not ours: it's yours
By Editor
Sunday March 30, 2008 [04:00]

IT is difficult to understand or appreciate why the government seems to be very uncomfortable with enacting laws that guarantee the Zambian people freedom of information. It is paradoxical or a contradiction for information minister Mike Mulongoti to say people should make decisions from an informed point of view yet he appears reluctant or unwilling to give them access to information they need to make such informed decisions.

And Mulongoti says the media plays an important role in the development of the nation but again he appears unwilling or reluctant to ensure that a law is enacted that gives the media guaranteed access to information so that it can play its role in development in a more efficient, effective and orderly manner.

Mulongoti urges the public to understand the challenges faced by the media and journalists in newsgathering, yet he himself is reluctant to take concrete measures that make this undertaking easier.

But as the nation continues to discuss the issue of the freedom of information laws, there is need to realise that power corrupts, and there is nothing more corrupting than power exercised in secret.

There is actually no good reason for anyone to fear a law that guarantees citizens more access to information. We say this because when so much is secret in a nation, secrecy is not respected - leaks upon leaks become the order to the day.

Actually, if one takes a critical look at things or life, it will not be difficult to realise that a people without much and meaningful access to information is a dead people.

And we in the media have been reminding the government and our politicians that although we have been in the forefront pushing for the enactment of freedom of information legislation, we are not doing so just because it aids our work, simply because

we need it for our practice; we are doing so much more for their own good, their own protection and indeed for everything that is theirs and that is for their benefit. Yes, the freedom of information legislation is interested in the truth. But the freedom of information legislation is not intended only for what somebody may think is the truth. It is intended for freedom of speech.

Mulongoti says "the important role the media plays in our everyday lives is taken for granted as if it is a birthright to have news". Yes, news may not be a birthright but nothing in this world can move without communication, without mankind's ability to speak out and to be heard by others. Actually, our ability to speak out and be heard is the bedrock of civilisation. Even biblically in John 1, it says that in the beginning there was the word and the word was God...with the word everything was created.
To the media alone, chequered as it is with abuses, the world is indebted for all the triumphs which have been gained by reason and humanity, over error and oppression.
We know what those in government fear is well-founded criticism, criticism that is based on facts or accurate information. But media which are not free to criticise government, or that are not representative of the broad spectrum of society, are inherently limited in their capacity to support and bolster democracy.

We all want to do right and do well. But if one doesn't do well, one is not going to be in a position to do right. And to do all this we need reasonable and meaningful access to information. But is it up to us journalists to wrestle with what is in the public interest, not necessarily what is of interest?

We must realise that in a world of one point political agendas and armies of spin-doctors trying to tailor the truth, a free press has to be more vigilant, professional and courageous than ever before.

The need for us to protect what we detest is the reason freedom of the mind both exist and is under siege.

And freedom or liberty is the one thing no man can have unless he grants it to others. Those in government today may think that they themselves have the right to information and it doesn't matter whether others don't have that right. Their day will certainly come when they are not in power.

All truths begin as hearsay. But there is need for facts to verify hearsay. And this will be much easier if citizens have reasonable and meaningful access to information that is legally guaranteed. For us our job is sometimes very simple - to publish, and set up a standard; publish, and not conceal.

If good freedom of information legislation is put in place, leaks will reduce considerably and the accuracy of information that is carried by our media will also improve considerably.

Without good freedom of information legislation, asking journalists to denounce leaks because of their deleterious effects on the functioning of government is as hopeless as asking an airline to denounce jet fuel because of its impact on the environment.

Of course the Zambian people are not asking for freedom of information legislation so that they can freely praise their public officials. Those in government know this very well and are very uncomfortable with it.

They know that the Zambian people are seeking freedom of information legislation so that they can freely criticise their public officials. Those in government know this and they don't like it at all.

But it seems our government officials never learn that the cover-up can be worse than the underlying conduct. Our right to information must be fought for and won over and over again. And the first step in this battle is for us to understand as a people the threats that we face.

We need access to information because it aids the ferment of ideas, the clash of disagreeing judgments, the privilege of the individual to develop his own thoughts and shape his own character that makes progress possible.

The impulse to restrict individual access to information in official hands is as ancient as the very history of mankind. But surely we are better than that impulse.

In a nation that aspires to be democratic, we want the spread of information to the widest audience possible. In that way, it is going to be more and more difficult for public officials to keep the truth out because the public have got access to it.

Today Mulongoti is accusing journalists of all sorts of things over the freedom of information bill. But we journalists are used to this. As journalists, we have been harassed, beaten, clubbed, tortured and detained. Freedom's price is high. And we know and understand this very well.

We also know that once one starts controlling the information to citizens, basically that is the end of the idea of democracy. Well, some journalists seem to believe that democratic politics, which alone underwrites their craft, is a self-perpetuating machine that can withstand any amount of money. They are wrong.

In a democracy, the freedom of discussion, the right to information and the freedom of expression are of the highest value. Without them, democracy stands into a caricature. Necessity is always the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants.

The most effective means of ensuring government's accountability to the people is a good and meaningful freedom of information that is well combined with an aggressive, free, challenging, untrusting media.

Of course freedom of information, freedom of speech and press freedom often provoke public and political controversy, but experience shows again and again that when freedom is diseased, the only cure is more freedom.

We also shouldn't forget that the right to information, freedom of information is very much close and tied to the right for one to express himself.

The right to express yourself is not something that is inherently part of being a journalist; its part of being a human being. You cannot have a democracy and you cannot have a community or a nation if you don't have a way to share ideas. And only a strong and secure democracy can guarantee the fullest and freest exchange of ideas, no matter how much those ideas hurt or incite. As journalists, we have to stand up for what is right and not worry about what is politically feasible. If a press is free, the facts cannot be concealed forever. While that is true, everything else is somehow correctable. It is said that the only sources that are worth a damn are the confidential sources.

Standing up for what is right is not always popular. But freedom is a precious thing and the inalienable birthright of all who travel this earth.

Freedom of information isn't an issue for majority rule. It isn't six foxes and a sheep deciding what to have for dinner. It is about protecting public interest and the interests of every individual.

Our hope is that we in the media and our fellow citizens in this country realise and remember that for all the disquiet that can come from a free press, life without it will be much worse. It is easy to embrace freedom of speech for ideas we accept. But the essence of freedom of speech, the press and freedom of information is that we must protect the ideas we hurt.

And those in government are not sliding reluctantly down a slippery slope, they are eagerly tumbling down it, extending their regulation of political speech in order to make their lives less stressful and more secure. We know from logic and from observation and from experience that the more powerless you are as a group or gender, the more you should defend your freedom of speech and your right to access information in official hands.