ACTIVISTS THREATEN LEGAL ACTION FOR DELAYED EXECUTION OF ATI
SOME youth activists have petitioned the government to immediately operationalise the Access to Information Act of 2023.
Mr Nawa Sitali, a Lusaka-based activist has described such a delay as a mockery of the promised rule of law, transparency and accountability by the new dawn administration.
And Thompson Luzendi, another activist, has threatened to take legal action should the process delay more.
Recently, Government through the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Information and Media, Mr Thabo Kawana, revealed that the operationalisation of the act will be done next month.
Mr Sitali in a media address worries that the delayed operationalisation of the Access to Information Law (ATI) is questionable and states that there is no effective validation process to confirm that the law will be implemented in June this year.
Mr Sitali also questioned the country’s rule of law, describing it as an academic access.
“On December 15, 2023, amidst great celebration, President Hakainde Hichilema convened the nation and senior government officials at the Mulungushi International Conference Centre, there he ceremoniously signed into law the freedom of access to information act no. 24 of 2023.
However, what seemed like a momentous occasion has turned out to be an exercise in futility and a squandering of taxpayers’ money,’’ he said.
Mr Sitali said despite the pomp and splendour of the signing ceremony, it is evident that the act lacks any legal force.
“This realisation came to light when we, on January 22, 2024, exercised our rights under the newly passed law by submitting a request for information to cabinet office using the procedure set out in section 6 (3) of the Access to Information Act, which provides that a citizen who wants access to a certain piece of information must put it in writing to the information holder, and the information holder, cabinet in this case, is supposed to respond to the information seeker within a reasonable time,” Mr Sitali said.