A Zambian Cabinet committee “will soon deliberate on the content of the Access to Information (ATI) Bill, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Services Chishimba Kambwili has said,” according to a May 3 Daily Mail report, and advocates for the bill are pushing for enactment.
“The process towards the enactment of the Access to Information Bill is still alive and a committee of Cabinet ministers will soon sit to consider the contents of the Bill,” he was quoted as saying.
On May 4, members of a civil society coalition picketed parliament where they presented a petition signed by 101,799 people from 70 districts in the country to the chairperson of the information and broadcasting committee, Kabinga Pande, according to an article in Zambia Reports.
is displeased by what it says is the casual manner the PF government has handled the enactment of laws which have a direct and positive impact on the lives of the citizens.
Other news reports indicated that Kambwili said the government will not table an ATI bill in this session of parliament due to allegedly unprofessional conduct by some media houses. Kambwili criticized the media in a World Press Freedom Day speech, saying, “Some newspapers have introduced a strange type of journalism which includes tapping private phone conversations, using vulgar language and other indiscretions alien to journalism.”
The former Executive Director of the Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP), McDonald Chipenzi, in a Lusaka Times article, said Zambians should make access to information a campaign issue and ensure that the government to be birthed after the August 11, 2016 General Elections does not also offer promissory note but enact the law.”
Chipenzi said, “The failure by the PF government to enact the Access to Information law in the last five years of its reign, punctuated with unfilled promises, is a demonstration of lack of commitment to accountability and transparency in the management and administration of national, public and electoral affairs.”
Chipata Press Club vice-chairperson Osward Yambani was quoted as saying most media practitioners were not free to carry out their duties for fear of being attacked by politicians.
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