Maravi

Ronnie hails stance on FoI Bill

Ronnie hails stance on FoI Bill
By Moses Kuwema
Sat 23 June 2012, 13:24 CAT

IT is nice that the government is taking the Freedom of Information Bill to Parliament, says Lieutenant General Ronnie Shikapwasha. In an interview, Lt Gen Shikapwasha (left), a former information and broadcasting minister in the MMD regime said it was a good move that the PF government had taken.

"That is nice, it is very good. Let's discuss it in Parliament because it will be tabled for people to discuss, so we will discuss it in Parliament also," Lt Gen Shikapwasha said.

Asked if the government had addressed the concerns that the MMD had with the bill which resulted in them dragging their feet to table it in parliament, Lt Gen Shikapwasha responded: "No comment until we discuss it in Parliament."

Information, broadcasting and labour permanent secretary Amos Malupenga announced that a taskforce working on a Bill had completed drafting the document and was expected to launch it next week for public scrutiny and comments.

According to Malupenga, the task force comprising civil society, legal experts, Transparency International - Zambia, Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) and other stakeholders had been working on the FoI Bill for the past few months.

After public scrutiny and comments, the bill would be tabled in Parliament.

Labels: FOI, FREEDOM OF INFORMATION BILL, RONNIE SHIKAPWASHA

posted by MrK @ 2:55 PM