TANZANIA Introduction A right of access to information held by government institutions is usually justified as an instrument for promoting development and political participation. It has been argued that access to information is necessary for the realization of the basic rights to freedom of opinion and expression that are guaranteed in the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, subsequent human rights declarations, and many national constitutions. The right of access to information is also guaranteed by Article 9 of the African Charter, which has been further elaborated by the Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression in Africa, as a fundamental and inalienable human right and an indispensable component of democracy and development, including socioeconomic development. A related but even stronger argument is that access is essential for persons to realize their basic right to participate in the governing of their country, and live under a system based on the informed consent of the citizenry. In any state, and particularly in states where policy-analysis capabilities of civil society are poorly developed, political participation rights cannot be exercised effectively without access to government information. Government’s obligation to proactively publish information was stressed recently at an important international forum. Part of the deliberations of the 2013 G8 Lough Erne Declaration, emanating from the Summit on June 18, in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, states, “Governments should publish information on laws, budgets, spending, national statistics, elections and government contracts in a way that is easy to read and re-use, so that citizens can hold them to account”. Continentally, March 2013 witnessed the adoption of the African Union’s “Model Law on Access to Information for Africa” by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR). The Model Law is intended to guide African States on the adoption of Access to Information legislation, as well as provide benchmarks for their ‘effective implementation’. 2013 has also witnessed Rwanda becoming the 11th country in Africa to adopt an Access to Information law, indicating the increasing significance of Access to Information on the African continent. In Tanzania, the right to be informed and to access and disseminate information, is recognized in Articles 18(1) and 18(2) of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania of 1977: Without prejudice to expression the laws of the land, every person has the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and to seek, receive and impart or disseminate information and ideas through any media regardless of national frontiers, and also has the right of freedom from interference with his communications. Every citizen has the right to be informed at all times of various events in the country and in the world at large which are of 80 importance to the lives and activities of the people and also of issues of importance to society (URT 1998). Against this background the Media Institute of Southern Africa’s Tanzania Chapter (MISA-TAN) is emphasising extending access to information campaigns so civil society organizations and organized communities can access government information to better their socio-economic conditions. However, freedom of expression and right to information, as enshrined in Article 18 of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania, is not fully enjoyed by many. It is within this context that MISA-TAN is advocating for an independent and pluralistic citizenry. Access to information means to report and comment on issues of local interest, which are recognized as critical enablers for empowerment of the poor and for social accountability. An improved information flow and a greater range of communication channels are needed to meet the information needs of the poor and to advance pro-poor perspectives in policy dialogue. Despite the constitutional mandate, the government often neglects to inform the public about decisions and projects that could potentially be of benefit to them. Once they do, it is always too late. When the public does learn of such government acts through unofficial channels, inquiries often fall on deaf ears, that is why the public often remains unaware of possible hazards or potential benefits of many government decisions and projects. Despite promises from the Tanzanian government, the parliament has not witnessed the tabling of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill since 2006, when stakeholders made the first draft public. Various Ministers under whose mandate the FOI Bill falls have made several comments. In 2010 for example, when asked in a parliamentary session to clarify the procedures for accessing information (for MPs in this case), then Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Phillip Marmo, stated the following: “The conditions include the ones I enlisted as part of my supplementary answer, but let it be reminded here that there are huge demands and worldwide, where there is a huge public demand, including parliamentarians to access information from government offices, there have been some processes including laws providing greater details. Such is normally called Freedom of Information Act. In our country, for all this time, we have not received any such demand for such a Law from the general public, parliamentarians or even from the media. This is why we have continued to use the current practice”. It was during the era of former Minister of Information and Culture, Dr. Emmanuel Nchimbi, that the media fraternity and FOI stakeholders were optimistic the Bill would become a reality, but to no avail. Over the past number of years, Nchimbi made a number of comments regarding the Bill. For example, in January of 2011 he said to a meeting of media stakeholders;