years ago to allow for ‘wider consultations’ with the public. The Bill has previously been considered by Cabinet, nearly presented to parliament, with several deadlines given for the enactment, all in vain6. Several consultative processes, reviews and harmonisation of the ATI draft Bill have been undertaken over the past twenty years. It was against this backdrop that in April, 2021, before its dissolution, Parliament unanimously adopted a report of the Committee on Media, Information and Communication Technologies, which recommended for the fast-tracking of the process toenact a law on Access to Information in view of its benefits for the citizenry and potential to enhance investigative reporting in Zambia. This is, indeed, true and corroborates with some of the sentiments by discussants in the Focus Group Discussion. One of the discussants, a practising journalist, stated that: Lack of a law on ATI has led to institutions practicing chequebook journalism whereby people start buying sources from or within the institution so that they are given the information they need which is not a good practice. Another participant, also a practising journalist, stated: Access to information is very important; in the sense that it helps us share news to the masses. For instance, if one wants to retrieve sensitive information from the Ministry of Health on COVID-19, you find that instead of getting that kind of story that you needed you will be referred to [name withheld] or the people in charge in Lusaka. It gets difficult sometimes; therefore, if the Bill could be enacted into law, it would be easier for us to get information from the Ministry of Health Most of the submissions from journalists at the MISA forum also pointed to the difficulty of access to public information for their news. The journalists indicated that they sometimes have to publish imbalanced stories as a result or in certain cases they are unable to conduct investigative journalism. Access to information legislation allows for transparency and citizen participation in the governance processes, thereby fostering an informed at https://www.lusakatimes.com/2013/09/27/a-recap-on-excuses-given-by-government-on-the-access-toinformation-bill-since-2011/ 6 See https://www.lusakatimes.com/2013/09/27/a-recap-on-excuses-given-by-government-on-the-access-toinformation-bill-since-2011/ 14