Stakeholders rejects govt resolve for further scrutiny of ATI bill

Stakeholders have disapproved government’s resolve to subject the Access to Information (ATI) Bill to further scrutiny following a stakeholder consultative and validation meeting that was held last month.

The Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia says in as much as it values consultative processes, it is of the view that the ATI Bill has already undergone enough scrutiny over the past 21-years.

MISA Zambia Chairperson, Father Barnabas Simatende says the announcement by Ministry of Information and Media Permanent Secretary Kennedy Kalunga that the Bill will be taken for further consultative processes across the ten provinces will only delay the process of enacting the bill into law

Fr Simatende has told Q-News in an interview the move has the potential to stall the process further like the case has been with successive governments over the last twenty years.

And in a separate interview, Media Liaison Committee Chairperson Enock Ngoma says government needs to give a clear roadmap on how it intends to conduct the stakeholder consultative processes in all the ten provinces so that stakeholders can monitor the progress thoroughly.

Mr. Ngoma says there is no need to extend the consultative process because the bill has already been fine-tuned with input from stakeholders.

He fears that with the recent turn of events, the bill cannot be tabled in the current sitting of Parliament and chances are high that it might not be tabled anytime soon.