What’s New
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25 August 2016
FOI Notes: National News Briefs, Transparency Research, More
Malaysia: The response from citizens to the 2010 Penang Freedom of Information Enactment “has been positively lukewarm,” according to a top official and statistics quoted in an article by Boo Su-Lyn in the Malay Mail. Civil servants are afraid to release information, the article says. Penang Deputy Chief Minister II Prof. P. Ramasamy said there […]
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25 August 2016
Fiji FOI Legislation Faulted For Being Too Restrictive
Draft freedom of information legislation for Fiji is too restrictive, a witness recently told a parliamentary committee, the Fiji Times’ Aqela Susu reports. Bill No. 34 (text) being considered by the Parliamentary Committee on Justice, Law and Human Rights “is based on the notion that the citizen is an alien who is not to be […]
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25 August 2016
Progress Seen in Draft Tanzanian FOI Bill
By Deus Kibamba The author is trained in political science and international law. His column first appeared Aug. 24 in The Citizen. The government issued a new draft FOI bill in June. (See Freedominfo.org report.) In less than two weeks, the Right to Information Bill will be presented in Parliament for its second reading and passing by […]
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14 August 2016
Broken Promises in Ghana
The following statement was issued by the RTI Coalition, Ghana, in early August 2016. (Subsequently the members of the Coalition sent a letter to the president urging passage of the RTI bill.) When a father promises to do something for a child, the child relies hugely on that promise and expects that the adult will deliver […]
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11 August 2016
FOI Notes: Sierra Leone, Commentary, Olympics, Philippines, Canada, US, Cayman Islands, Japan, Panama, Research, India, Australia
Sierra Leone: The Campaign for Human Rights and Development International (CHRDI) called on parliamentarians to account for the millions of dollars they are receiving annually for the development of their respective constituencies. The Sierra Leone Telegraph reports that many of the parliamentarians are not taking too kindly to being called to account. Commentary: Nathaniel Heller of […]
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4 August 2016
Australia Refuses to Release Emails With UNESCO
The government of Australia has declined to release documents concerning the removal of all references in a UN report to damage from climate change to the Great Barrier Reef and other Australian World Heritage sites. UNESCO subsequently dropped the references after Australian officials argued that mentioning the damage would harm tourism, a development disclosed in […]
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4 August 2016
FOI Notes: Pakistan, Honduras, Open Data, Budget Transparency, EU, US, Philippines
Pakistan: The federal ombudsman directs the Pakistan Cricket Board to share details of inquiries conducted against the players involved in match-fixing and betting since 1996. Civil society activist Zahid Abdullah requested the information under the Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002, according to an article in The News. Honduras: The Regional Alliance for Free Expression and Information […]
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3 August 2016
OGP Begins Refresh Exercise; Revision of Co-creation Guide
The Open Government Partnership is beginning a “refresh” exercise that includes a reexamination of its guidelines for “co-creation” of national action plans. The refresh initiative was described in a letter to civil society leader by Alejandro González Arreola, Executive Director of GESOC and the Civil Society Lead Chair of the OGP Steering Committee. “As we approach […]
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28 July 2016
Romanian Report on ATI Progress
The following is the text of a report by the Ministry for Public Consultation and Civil Dialogue in Romania. Created in November 2015 as a leading central body responsible for improving the usage, the legal framework and the practices in the areas of access to information, public consultation and civil participation, Ministry for Public Consultation […]
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28 July 2016
Ghana RTI Coalition Asks President to Push Bill
The Right to Information Coalition issued a statement July 27 challenging President John Dramani Mahama to fulfill his campaign promise to pass the Right to Information Bill this year. The RTI bill is languishing in Parliament without presidential encouragement, the Coalition said, elaborating: The Coalition would like to draw the attention of the public to the […]
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28 July 2016
FOI Notes: OGP, US, Bulgaria, India, Spain, Open Data, Slovakia, Open Budgets, Board Game
OGP: See proposals for sessions at the OGP December summit in Paris, including many on access to information. OGP: “The inconvenient truth about the Open Government Partnership,” by Mukelani Dimba, Executive Director of the Open Democracy Advice Centre and incoming civil society chairperson of the Open Government Partnership, describes how OGP member states Kenya, Nigeria and South […]
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25 July 2016
President of the Philippines Issues FOIA Executive Order
The new president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has signed a freedom of information executive order. The six-page order signed July 23 outlines policies and procedures for accessing public information, accomplishing much of what the Congress has been unable to do by legislation. (See image of text here.) Read articles in The Rappler and The […]
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21 July 2016
Moroccan Lower House OKs Access to Information Bill
The lower house in Morocco has approved an access to information bill. The July 20 action is revealed on the website and Facebook page of the Cente Marocain Pour le Droit d’access a l’information (CEMDI). The legislative process now requires that the bill be submitted to the upper house, but under the Constitution, in case […]
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21 July 2016
Kenyan Senate Approves Access to Information Bill
The Senate has passed an access to information bill. The bill now goes back to the National Assembly for consideration of changes made and expected approval, according to an article in The Nation by John Ngirachu. “Among the amendments by the Senate is a provision to have information held by a public entity or private […]
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21 July 2016
FOI Notes: Liberia, SDGs, India, US, Bangladesh, Kosovo, Open Data, More
Liberia: President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has created an Inter-Ministerial Committee on Women’s Access to Information, led by the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection and the Ministry of Information, “to develop appropriate policy framework and reforms that address any constraints and guarantees women’s access to information,” according to her statement. SDGs: A letter from […]
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20 July 2016
Doubt Raised on Prospects for Ghanian RTI Legislation
Ghana’s parliament “does not appear eager to pass” a right to information bill, according to reporting by Nana Poku in News Ghana. The article quotes George Loh, a member of Parliament for North Dayi and ranking member of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee: Let me say it here and now, that some members of […]
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14 July 2016
SDG16 Coalition Announces Database on Measurement
A coalition of international nongovernmental organizations has recommended that the Sustainable Development Goal on access to information be measured initially based on one component – whether a country has an access to information (ATI) law. Comprehensive international data isn’t available on the other key component of the SDG ATI target –“implementation” of ATI laws, according to […]
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14 July 2016
Questions About the World Bank’s Governance Agenda
By Alan Hudson The author is Executive Director of Global Integrity. This article first appeared on the Global Integrity blog and is reprinted with permission. There has been concern for many months in the governance and development community, in Washington DC and beyond, about the commitment of the World Bank to the governance agenda, and particularly […]
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14 July 2016
Brexit and Open Government
By Ben Worthy The author is lecturer in Politics at Birkbeck College, University of London. This post first appeared in the Open Data Study Blog and is reprinted with permission. Brexit, as we now know, means Brexit. But what does it mean for open government in the UK? On the surface, nothing changes. Almost all […]
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14 July 2016
Albanian Institutions Fail NGO’s Transparency Test
Albania’s public institutions met their obligations to give public information on request in only 42 per cent of the cases, according to a study by the nongovernmental organization Mjaft, as described in a Balkan Insight article. “We sent out 230 requests for information, 80 for central institutions, 137 for local ones and 13 for justice […]