Identifying government information that citizens can use is key to building public support for access to information, according to four leading activists from Africa who spoke April 14 at an Open Society Foundations forum in Washington.
Providing an example, Agnes Edo’o, executive director of the Citizens Governance Initiatives in Cameroon, described a recent effort to sensitize students about getting information from the government has about how to get government educational scholarships and about how many are given. “To get the students engaged you have to tell them this is what we can get for you,” she said.
Cameroon does not have a FOI law, but provisions in other laws can be used, she said, and the other speakers concurred.
“Is the answer to really have all-embracing information laws? was a theme-setting question posed early on by moderator Abdul Tejan-Cole of the Open Society Foundations. He continued, “Or is the answer really using the laws we have in place in many African countries to access information?”
“If you are not utilizing these laws, why would it be different when you have an all-embracing law,” he said.
Maxwell Kadiri, with OSF in Kenya, commented that “even most of the activists on the ground are not aware” of access to information provisions in other laws, such as public procurement, budget and environmental laws.
Those interested in getting a FOI law passed need to begin by analyzing the causes of secrecy and the political context, said Mukelani Dimba of the Open Democracy Advice Center. He advised asking the question: What is it you want to know from your government? He also suggested that those without laws, but with favorable constitutions, should seek to exercise their constitutional rights.
Addressing the need to use existing laws, Kadiri commented, “The demand is there, but part of what has not happened is civil society has channeled that demand appropriately.”
Assessment of FOI Landscape in Africa
Most of the six FOI laws in Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Angola, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Liberia) do not seem to be making a significant difference speakers said, offering various facts and anecdotes. The laws in Angola and Zimbabwe should not be counted as real FOI laws, several speakers observed.
The passage of the Uganda law was partially negated by the parallel approval of state secrecy laws, and long-promised FOI regulations have not materialized despite promised made by the president about a year ago.
In Liberia, seven months after the signing of the new FOI law, there has been only application for information, Kadiri said.
“I’d say we are lagging behind in practice,” began Dimba, from South Africa. Although the South African law is the oldest, about 60 percent of requests made under the law are “simply ignored,” he said.
Dimba also noted that the South African law’s unique application to private entities has “not worked very well” in practice, and that no requesters have overcome the legal standard of showing what right would be violated if the information were not provided.
On the other hand, reading requests for public sector information, the courts have favored applicants in 98 percent of the 30 cases, he recounted.
Following the model in U.S. FOI law of using the courts to enforce the law has not worked well because of the costs of litigation. He asked, “Where are these people going to get the resources needed to bring an action to court? Implementation would work better with a commission or ombudsman, Dimba said.
The lack of an effective system emboldens government officials not to comply and there is no political leadership on the issue, he observed.
Media Role Discussed
The idea that access to information laws mainly benefit the media is a perception that has caused a lot of confusion, and one that needs to be countered by concentrating on helping citizens see the practical value to them of information, Edo’o said.
Kadiri called this “a recurrent challenge” and said activists need to “demonstrate practically to people” the value of information. “You want to have people connect the law to themselves,” he said, calling that the best way to dispel the concern that FOI laws are for the media.
Dimba commented that often acrimonious relations between politicians and the media can create problems, such as making officials ponder: “Why should we give you more tools to make our lives miserable.” He noted that in South Africa, most journalists do not see the FOI law as a useful tool.
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