Access to Information Law good for accountability

The draft law, expected to be passed into law by parliament soon, will guarantee freedom by citizens to access information possessed by public and private institutions.

The idea to formulate the new law first emerged from the last government retreat following proposals by media practitioners.

The Media High Council, the state organ that oversees media activities in the country, was then tasked to formulate the first draft.

Ignatius Kabagambe, the director general at the Ministry of Information, while commenting on the draft bill said that the objective is to guarantee access to information held by public institutions and require them to proactively publish and disseminate it in a manner.

He added that the proposed new law will also enable Rwandans to have access to information held by private bodies--especially such information relevant in the protection of rights and freedoms recognized under the constitution.

"This law is new, there was nothing like this before, we found it relevant to include it in the whole media laws package. For example, it will pass alongside other laws which will be governing agencies like the Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA), the Media High Council (MHC) and the media Bill as well. Indeed, this will not only help journalists but the entire population to be aware of what is really going on and get to know it on time," said Kabagambe.

He said that although the law will give full rights to journalists to have access to the information, the same media practitioners should not make it an excuse for the denial of generic information which can even be found at websites, newsletters and other sources of general information on public or private authorities.

Kayiranga said that media freedom is guaranteed by constitutional under articles of 33 and 34. "Having the law on information access in Rwanda is a step ahead because it will promote transparency in the implementation of programs, encourage active participation of citizen in national issues and at the same time fighting against injustice and corruption," he said.

Access to information is defined having the right to examine, look at, check, inspect, take a sample of, copy or obtain any information from people, works, documents and records.

However, information that might cause harm to the national security; impede the due process of law; involve the unwarranted invasion of the privacy of an individual; violate the legitimate protection of trade secrets or other intellectual property right protected by law and other laws may be denied access.

Source: allAfrica.com