Programme A: Programme A: Freedom of Expression & Right to Information Programme A continues its advocacy work for media and freedom of expression and access to information in the region. A key feature in the year being reported is the linkages that MISA is developing between legislative processes and the need to create public demand for such laws. MISA remains concerned that legislative processes to enact friendly and democratic access to information laws are not only slow but also stagnated in some parts of the southern African Development Community (SADC). An issue that MISA seeks to address in these processes is the linkage between issues of corruption, bad governance and freedom of expression. A research study by Transparency International (2007) showed a correlation between corruption and lack of information. It is no coincidence that the ten most corrupt and poor nations in the world are those without laws that guarantee citizens the right to access information. In contrast the ten least corrupt and most prosperous nations are those with access to information such laws (TI 2007). Media Freedom: 19 Years later 19 years after the Windhoek Declaration on Press Freedom, the media in Africa, particularly southern Africa are far from independent, in fact the media in some countries are as oppressed and restricted as they were during the colonial and one party political systems. Even those countries who seem to have been on the path to media freedom five years ago have regressed, while those headed for ruin have never looked back. 2009 begun with a lot of optimism, the prospect of a government of unity in Zimbabwe brought renewed energy and hope not only in that country but throughout the region, promising a new chapter in the media environment of freedom and medial law reform for a country that have known media repression far too long. That was not to be, the government of unity has not delivered. Not yet. If ever. What started as a promising year, ended as a disappointing one. For some countries arguably the 25