New Zambian government to prioritize FOI Bill

On 30th September, The Post newspaper reported that the new Zambian Information Minister Given Lubinda says he will prioritize media liberalization and enactment of the Freedom of Information Bill.  In an interview, Lubinda said that he would like a free media that would always hold authorities accountable.

“Talking about Freedom of Information laws, that I can assure you. And I am going to discuss with his Honour the Vice President, and hopefully through him His Excellency the President, that we make the FoI as one of our benchmarks within the first 90 days of the PF government,” Lubinda stated.

He also listed his priorities as: liberalizing the government-owned media practitioners and ensuring that the press has space in which to perform their very important role to the fourth estate. This fourth estate has the function of being a watchdog over other players, which are the Executive, Legislature, and the Judiciary.

MISA Zambia Position
MISA Zambia chairperson Daniel Sikazwe, stated: “The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zambia would like to express support for the decision by Information Minister, Given Lubinda, to prioritize media liberalization and enactment of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Bill. This bill has been in limbo unnecessarily for several years.
 
As a non-governmental organisation that promotes media diversity, freedom and independence, we strongly feel this is also the right time for the government  to reconsider and repeal the ZNBC and IBA Amendment Acts of 2010 so that the Minister of Information and Broadcasting does not appoint the board members for these two institutions.” //End//


Reagan Malumo
Programme Specialist: Media Freedom Monitoring and Research
Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Regional Secretariat
21 Johann Albrecht St
Private Bag 13386
Windhoek
Namibia
Phone: +264 61 232 975
Fax: +264 61 248 016
Mobile: +264 81 311 2626
Official Email: reagan(@)misa.org
Private Email: reagan32002(@)yahoo.com

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