impact of the campaign ha s not yet been measured, but preliminary indication is that it has set the
tone for serious dialogue between civil society and government.
Due to the nature and the scope of the campaign and the need to assess the progress of the
campaign, it was decided to pilot the campaign in selected countries rather than roll it out in all
the countries. The piloting countries are: Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia,
South Africa and Tanzania. Setbacks in the media law reform process in Zambia has necessitated
the ASK campaign to become active in that country. The ASK campaign recorded some success
in Zambia when the Freedom of Information Bill was tabled in parliament. However, after much
wrangling the Bill was withdrawn. In May 2003, the chapter launched an intensive campaign to
re-introduce the Bill in parliament. The process is on-going.
The campaign is being piloted at different levels and is also at different stages of development in
all these respective countries. Its measurement of success and impact is also varied. In South
Africa the campaign has a different dimension in the sense that such a legislation exists. The
focus in South Africa therefore is to review the application and usage of the legislation and how
that supports the work of journalists in that country. MISA’s research in this area revealed that
South African journalists have been very slow in using the Promotion of Access to Information
Act. Hence, the chapter intends to carry out activities to sensitize and educate the journalists
about the law.
In light of this it would be pointless for MISA to campaign for regional adoption of such
legislation if citizens do not derive benefits from the legislation in those countries where it
already exists.

4.2.1 Malawi
In Malawi, the chapter continued its campaign to have the draft Access to information Bill
adopted by government. A number of sensit ization workshops were held in the country, where
media practitioners, government officials and other stakeholders were targeted. However, in
August 2003, government indicated to the chapter and other stakeholders to wait until
government has sensitized other senior government offic ials. This has resulted in delaying the
process.

4.2.2 Mozambique
In Mozambique, the chapter engaged itself in the campaign to formulate a draft Access to
Information Bill during the year under review. After long consultation, a draft Access to
Information Bill was presented to stakeholders for discussion and input. A workshop was
organized were comments and input was presented to the taskforce. A further round of
consultation was undertaken where comments and input was incorporated in the draft bill. The
chapter sees the campaign as very successful as it has produced a draft bill that enjoys support
and consensus from the main stakeholders including government. The chapter then engaged itself
in lobbying members of parliament about the draft bill where copies of the bill was given to each
parliamentarian. However, the process could not be concluded as the parliament was dissolved as
general election are scheduled for later in 2004.

4.2.3 Namibia
MISA-Namibia launched a public awareness and stakeholders’ campaign to include the three tiers
broadcasting in the draft Communications Bill (CAN). To this effect, workshops were held with

MISA Annual Report (April 2003 – March 2004)

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