Maravi

Freedom of information Bill draft ready

Freedom of information Bill draft ready
By Masuzyo Chakwe
Sat 16 June 2012, 13:23 CAT

THE Freedom of Information taskforce will next week launch the draft freedom of information legislation for public scrutiny and comment.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and Labour, the taskforce which had been working on the freedom of information legislation for the past few months had completed drafting the document.

The task force comprises government representatives from the Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and Labour and Ministry of Justice, the Civil Society FoI Coalition of the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, Economic Association of Zambia, MISA-Zambia, Transparency International Zambia and the Law Association of Zambia, independent legal experts Kenny Makungu, a lecturer at UNZA and Edem Djokotoe, the World Bank technical team, among others.

Information permanent secretary Amos Malupenga disclosed this when officials from the British government's Department for International Development (DFID) met him at his office yesterday.

"A task force has been working to come up with a draft legislation on the freedom of information Bill. This is now ready and we will be launching it in a few days time for public scrutiny and input. The draft bill will thereafter be submitted to Cabinet and later Parliament for commencement of the enactment process," said Malupenga to DFID governance adviser to Zambia, Sam Waldock and DFID chief professional officer in the governance, conflict and social development division at the organisation's headquarters in London.

Malupenga who is also spokesperson for the Taskforce appealed for financial support from cooperating partners and other stakeholders to publicise the draft bill in the print and other communication channels to enable members of the public access the document countrywide.

"Essentially, we have targeted the month of July for this exercise but our major handicap is money to publicise the draft bill especially in the print media. We are therefore appealing for support form cooperating partners to help us so that people have wide access to the document and make meaningful input," said Malupenga.

And Robinson pledged DFID's support for the ongoing media reforms in Zambia, describing the country's freedom of information process as impressive.

Labels: AMOS MALUPENGA, FOI, FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BILL

posted by MrK @ 4:59 PM