Twenty years after the Windhoek Declaration on press freedom

sion and access to information in
Africa promises to be bright. The
Arab revolution has caused immediate
discussion on guarantees for
both rights, in law and practice. In
countries where <strong>the</strong> discussion was
long forgotten, like Ghana, Kenya,
Sierra Leone and Niger, a positive
wind of change is blowing.
Ano<strong>the</strong>r positive is <strong>the</strong> formation of
“The Arab revolution
has caused immediate
discussions on
guarantees for both
rights, in law and
practice.”
<strong>the</strong> Africa Freedom of Information
Centre (AFIC), a pan-African civil
society body with membership
drawn from human rights and
media organisations from around
<strong>the</strong> continent. The centre works with
national civil society coalitions and
stakeholders to promote <strong>the</strong> right of
access to information by building a
knowledge base through research,
technical assistance on draft bills
and advocacy for legislation and
implementation.
In one case of AFIC action, <strong>the</strong>
organisation made an information
request to <strong>the</strong> Ugandan parliament
in November 2010. This was to find
out how different ministers were
reporting in compliance with article
43 of <strong>the</strong> Access to Information
Act. The background is that <strong>after</strong>
being passed, <strong>the</strong> Ugandan law
was not implemented for six <strong>years</strong>
because government had not issued
regulations.
In February 2011, having received no
response we sent an email reminder
to <strong>the</strong> parliament, receiving only a
telephonic response that <strong>the</strong>re had
been no compliance and parliament
was now going to start enforcing
162 | Media in Africa - 2011
<strong>the</strong> article. AFIC <strong>the</strong>n filed a similar
information request to <strong>the</strong> prime
minister of Uganda.
In March 2011, <strong>the</strong> New Vision
newspaper carried a story, “Nsibambi
warns lazy ministers” in which
<strong>the</strong> prime minister was quoted
as directing ministers to comply
with reporting requirements. In a
letter to AFIC <strong>the</strong> following month,
<strong>the</strong> Minister for Information and
National Guidance said <strong>the</strong> lack of
compliance to date had been due to
a delay in gazetting <strong>the</strong> regulations.
The letter promised that gazetting
would be done within two months
and <strong>the</strong>re<strong>after</strong> ministers would
comply with reporting requirements.
Subsequently, on World Press Freedom
Day, <strong>the</strong> government’s Director
for Information and National Guidance
announced that <strong>the</strong> regulations
had been gazetted.
This is an important, but first, step
towards full implementation. These
kinds of advocacy initiatives need to
be intensified to take full advantage
of new opportunities in Africa to
foster a culture of transparency
that is entrenched in <strong>the</strong> law and
implemented in practice.