The bill lists a large number of items which all bodies of the public administration must make
public – including their internal norms, regulations and instructions, their budgets and reports on
budget implementation, all licenses or permits that they issue, the details of all contracts they sign,
and the results of any audits.
Last year (2005), MISA noted in its assessment of the previous year (2004) an increasing emphasis on access to information and professionalism among the media fraternity. This trend continued
in 2005. However, having monitored developments for another year, it also became increasingly
evident that whilst MISA is consistently advocating for the enactment of Access to Information
legislation, political will among our governments is lacking.
Whilst the strong media and civil society coalitions for media freedom advocacy and legal reform
in Zambia have not been able to further the enactment of the Freedom of Information Bill, the
coalition through sheer vigilance has ensured that the matter remains high on the national agenda.

So This Is Democracy? 2005

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Media Institute of Southern Africa

Select target paragraph3