Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
NGOCC Executive Director Engwase Mwale
The Non Governmental Organisations’ Coordinating Council (NGOCC) has urged the Patriotic Front (PF) Government to immediately enact the Access to Information law.
NGOCC Executive Director Engwase Mwale in a statement says this law without doubt will enhance transparency and accountability in the operations of the State and minimize the spillage of “classified” documents.
Ms Mwale says the Access to Information law will help the Government be more responsive and accountable to the citizens on whose behalf they govern.
She states that access to information is not only a human right itself but also an essential for the exercise of a variety of other fundamental rights.
Ms Mwale says it is particularly important that the Government should enact the Access to Information law so that citizens can use it in the realisation of civil and political rights and to further deepen the democratic participation in society.
The NGOCC Executive Director says effective access to information will not only transform the country from a mere representative democracy but into a participatory democracy that is not restricted to citizen participation only through elections.
Ms Mwale says Government must be reminded that they hold all the information they have for and on behalf of the people of Zambia.
She has urged the Patriotic Front Government to desist from muzzling the media through the use of archaic secrecy laws.
Ms Mwale notes that the summoning of Journalists from the Post Newspapers is totally unnecessary and an affront on media freedom.
She says as opposed to intimidating Journalists with arrests, the Government should instead explain to the nation how they intend to utilize the loans being contracted and the net effect on the country’s economy, especially on the majority poor.
Ms Mwale says citizens have the responsibility and duty to monitor the conduct of the Government and we are therefore of the view that the access to information law would also be a countermeasure against vices such as corruption and other hidden agreements such as the US$192 million debt.