MOZAMBIQUE has joined the growing list of African countries that have crafted laws that compel public bodies to allow journalists unfettered access to information deemed to be of public interest.
Own Correspondent
The Mozambican Parliament last week passed the Access to Information Bill that has been on the government agenda since 2005.
Misa Mozambique chairperson Fernando Goncalves said: “Misa Mozambique is delighted at the final passing of the access to information Bill by the Parliament of Mozambique.”
The Bill was read for the first time in Parliament on August 21 and sailed through the second and third readings last week during an extraordinary session of the house. It was passed unanimously by the parliamentarians.
The Bill, among other things, obliges public bodies, and private bodies invested with public powers, to release information upon request to the media.
In terms of the Act, requested information must be provided within 21 days.
It also seeks to create greater transparency and generate public participation in Mozambique. The Bill has, however, been the subject of some criticism with respect to whether it adequately enforces the right in all its dimensions.
“We recognise that the law has some weaknesses, in the sense that it does not provide for an independent mechanism to oversee its implementation or to handle complaints from the public, but we see it as a first step in the right direction,” Goncalves added.
Access to information is constitutionally protected in Mozambique, and the government has ratified five of the six African Union treaties that recognise the right to access to information.
Mozambique becomes the fourth southern African country to adopt an access to information law, joining the other 14 countries on the continent that have specifically passed a law guaranteeing the right to access to information.
These include Zimbabwe and South Africa. Zimbabwe passed its own Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act in 2001. The Act has, however, since inception been used to tightly control journalists than grant them free access to information.
