The Action Namibia coalition, tasked with working towards an Access to Information (ATI) law in Namibia and oversight of citizen rights to information, extends support to one of its members, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), on the recent release of an important report entitled Access Denied: Access to Information in Namibia.
The contents of this report came under fire by the Minister of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Tjekero Tweya who this week claimed the report was “misleading and devoid of any truth”.
Action Namibia – made up of a number of civil society organisations including the Namibia Media Trust (NMT), the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC), the Editors Forum of Namibia (EFN), Insight Namibia Magazine, Sister Namibia, Citizens for an Accountable and Transparent Society (CATS), My Digital Bridge (MDB), MISA Namibia and Netday Namibia stands by the research and methodology employed by the IPPR in the compilation of this report, details of which were made public this week.
The coalition would further like to emphasise the importance of an access to information regime in Namibia to further the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular that an informed citizenry is key to a nation’s wellbeing and progress.
Action Namibia has actively engaged with the Ministry of ICT and other stakeholders in drafting an Access to Information law for Namibia. It is disappointing to note that despite promises that an ATI law be in place on the International Day for Universal Access to Information on September 28 last year, the bill has not yet seen the light of day.
We would encourage Minister Tweya to give urgent attention to this matter, and to see the IPPR ‘Access Denied’ research report instead as an indicator of the urgency and necessity of an ATI law for Namibia.
Issued by the Secretariat of the Action Namibia Coalition.
Contact details: Tel: +264 61 279 603
E-mail: info@action-namibia.org
www.action-namibia.org
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