Opposition ensures Malawi Parliament approve Access to Information Bill: Win for whistleblowers, media
Malawi opposition members of parliament (MPs) were steadfast to object to DPP-led government machinations to suffocate the Access to Information Bill (ATI) as they wanted to waive Standing Orders to accommodate other bills and they pressed on to have it passed in a late night.
Information Bill allows the public to seek for any information from government, and obligates public servants to make sure they provide that information, or risk hefty fines or jail terms.
If the government refuses to grant the information, or hides some of the information, then the public can report the matter to the Malawi Human Rights Commission for review and enforcement orders.
The opposition defeated government after two division roll calls, which proved that they had numerical strength 66 votes against 55 present to vote.
Minister of Information, Malison Ndau observed that there were some areas that needed to be looked into before the bill was passed and asked suspension to Friday to consult further with the powers-that-be.
Ndau observed that among the areas that needed further scrutiny was the clause which empowers the Human Rights Commission to play an oversight role in ensuring implementation of the bill, saying this was in conflict with the mandate of the commission.
But opposition pressed hard to have the piece of legislation enacted and they sailed through.
Dedza East MP Juliana Lunguzi (MCP) said the passing of the Information Bill is “victory for Malawians and democracy, saying Malawians have waited for too long for the ATI bill.
Chairman of the media committee, Sam Kawale said he expects President Peter Mutharika “will not take long to assent to it to be law.”
Former ministers who is Member of Parliament for Mwanza West Paul Chibingu, told the House “there was enough consultation on the bill and we don’t need to delay it any further, we should know that today we can be in government while tom morrow in opposition. We must not do things to please an individual.
Access to Information Bill has failed to see the right of the day since it was first introduced in 2009 with all succeeding government failing to bring it to the level it has come.
Media Council of Malawi executive director Vales Machila and Media Institute of Southern Africa (Misa) Malawi chapter Thom Khanje have described the passing of the Information Bill as “victory for everyone in Malawi.”
After the bill was passed in the House, opposition MPs erupted into celebrations and singing songs: “Ailira! Ailira!” – Meaning the ruling party were mourning as democracy triumped.
Now all government information will be up for grabs to anyone interested, unless the State “proves” that the information has to remain classified or that relates to national security includes that on military strategy.
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Well analyzed by Kent K.G. Mphepo. An important fact that bothers me is the existence of recycled politicians. They are the ones who don’t want to change things. A closer look reveals that Bakili Muluzi inherited the secrecy from MCP. And Muluzi’s team was comprised of MCP dissidents. It was just an old habit very difficult to die.
The passing of ATI law should call for celebrations to patriotic malawians. Ironically, the president preaches patriotism and yet he warned he would veto the bill for reasons known to him and his midnight six team.
Sometimes, it’s really hard to believe he’s the president, making presidential decisions in this country.
Let’s hope he’s in control of both his soul, heart and hand.
iwe Chisa kwali Chisi I don’t mind ukhumba kunanga opposition nthuli zako wapulika iwe Chisa
Big up opposition keep on fighting up to the end!!!!
Dear readers, can you re-read what Kent Mphepo is reminding us on what is happening with MBC radio and TV when we all know that it should be accessed by both sides, opposition and ruling party? When the MBC vote was passed that time the opposition celebrated as they have done yesterday, but what are we seeing now with the use of MBC? That time the opposition had a song to mock the ruling party after the so called victory, but did the then opposition really triumph? When the MBC bill was passed was there no penalties for the detractors of the law? Why were the punishments not applied to all the ruling parties who offended the public especially the opposition by not giving them access to the MBC? Why is Chakwera not suing the DPP for denying him access to MBC for the past 2 years? The defeat you are talking about is no defeat at all. These guys in govt will never and never work to the satisfication of the media because they take the media as spies of the opposition. And I challenge readers that this thing of not obeying the law will be there by any ruling party to come just as they do with the MBC. So there is nothing to celebrate here because nothing will change things on transaction of the information from govt. If cHAKWERA FIGHTS FOR THE OPPOSITION ACCESS TO MBC I will be assured that this recent bill is really a triumph otherwise I reserve my celebration.
‘Now all government information will be up for grabs to anyone interested, unless the State “proves” that the information has to remain classified or that relates to national security includes that on military strategy”
Who is this state that will be responsible for proving that the information is classified? Is there a criteria used to classify information?
Can some one please give us clue on this?
Countrymen, nothing sounds more pleasing than hearing that this long-awaited bill has finally passed the first stage. Let me repeat, “the first stage”. In my view, creating an open society, that this bill promises, is a very critical step in the process of “deepening” democracy in Malawi.
I feel that I do not need to remind Malawians that Government sits on three key cornerstones namely: the Executive (President, Cabinet & the Civil Service); the Judiciary (the Chief Justice and our courts) and the Legislature (Speaker and our MPs). These are supposed to check each other as they run government affairs. They are also supposed to ensure that all government is providing services to its people and that decisions are made in the best interest of all Malawians. But, did know that history has provided that left to themselves people working in these three arms of government are prone to corruption, bribery, lying, petty theft, etc and that there is another function and arm that ensures that every thing they do is really done in the best interest of the nation and not just their bellies and cronies?? The media. Journalists. The penmen and women. The paparazzi. These are people who often smell the rat and go on a journey to find out nothing but the whole truth. They ask: What? Who? Why? When? How? These are men, usually poorly paid, yet very useful at safeguarding our taxes in the corridors of power. And these are people that are most hated by those in power for obvious reason. Journalists. Collectively, they are called “the Forth Arm of Government” because without them societies are left to the devices of evil and selfish men and women whose interest is to pile wealth for themselves and their relatives, tribesmen, friends, and cronies.
Those who are older will remember that transparency and accountability were key clarion calls during the fight for multi-party politics between 1992 and 1994 and generally Malawians voted for change during the referendum hoping that the new system would be more transparent than the one-party system. And Malawians had a little test of transparency and accountability between the referendum and the 1994 general elections when MBC was freed and for the first time people started hearing the opposing voice on the only radio station that Malawi had. I always remember the late Henry Chirwa, then Director General of MBC, who ensured that Malawians have the freedom to air their minds on the only radio station at that time. And I am sure that it was that taste of transparency and accountability that encouraged Malawians to enshrine in their constitution the need for an Access to Information law that would ensure that transparency does not only end with radio waves but extend to all aspects of government and society.
But, when UDF was given the mandate to govern, it was surprising that the very same people who were fighting for a transparent system of government no longer wanted people to know what the Executive, Judiciary and Legislature were doing. They created a system of government administration that would ensure that nobody except they themselves knew what was going on in government. “For 31 years MCP was doing this. Why do you want us to be different??” they would ask anybody who dared to remind them that we were in the multiparty dispensation. Hypocrisy. They made sure that nobody, but the ruling elite and their henchmen, had the freedom to speak their minds on MBC. Are you surprised that subsequent governments DPP, PP and DPP, have continued the same song??
But to make matters worse, in 1999, TVM was created as a private company but flamboyantly being run on taxpayer’s money. Ridiculous!! And from that day to date the MBC both radio and TV have shamelessly remained the mouth piece of those in the so-called “ruling party”. MBC has been reduced to a propaganda tool for those in power. Only those people who have given their lives to lying on behalf of the ruling elite and their henchmen are the only people who are aloud to speak on this network although everybody knows that this institution runs on taxpayers money! My foot!! In the past 22 years, journalists have been reduced to mere street beggars or intruders and yet we all know that the media is the fourth arm of government that ensures that everybody who participates in the running of government is supposed to discharge their duties in the best interest of all Malawians and not just the chosen few.
It should also be pointed out that even those in opposition were to blame for this bad behavior because they always avoided confronting the status-co hoping that when they get into power they would also abuse these public institutions. These were selfish politicians who always thought that Malawi was for them and the rest of us had no right to know what they do in secrecy and we had no right to speak our minds using public apparatus such as MBC to contradict their opinions whenever need arose. Shame on them!
It is for this reason that I, personally, am happy that finally the darkness that these individuals covered us with for the past 22 years is beginning to thin away. Congratulations to Hon. Chakwera and your team for working up to 8.00 p.m. last night just to give us this important piece of legislature! There are also those in DPP, UDF and PP who worked had to ensure that the bill is finally passed in Parliament. This is what patriots do. They think about the next “generation” and not the next “election”! Malawi needs to move forward and not continue to retrogress. The Access to Information Law is a powerful piece of legislature that will not only dispel the darkness of ignorance that politicians veil us in but also send strong signal to current and future leaders and governments that Malawi cannot be turned into a personal estate by any mortal, rather it is an extension of God’s Kingdom. Oppression, corruption, lying through the teeth, etc have no place here. The passing of this law signifies that Malawi is now moving away from the armpit of the few to the true land of honey and milk. Malawi is slowly but surely turning into a true Warm Heart of Africa where sheddy deals will soon be a thing of the past and government resources will begin to trickle down to where the majority of our people are. Villages! People have spoken.
However, let me remind all of us that this is just the first step. The State President still has to sign this bill into law. The question is: will he sign it into law?? If you ask me, I will say it with a straight face that President Peter Mutharika, is a distinguished law professor who fully understands the implications of refusing to run government on people’s wishes. For those who don’t know: in 1995 Prof. Mutharika was a special law expert who participated in the development of our Constitution that provided for a future law that would ensure that journalists and all citizens have free access to government information – just to ensure that they are in the know of what their taxes are used on. I will, therefore, be very surprised if he, Prof. Mutharika, turned around and rejected the very same law he “fathered” 21 years ago. What’s more? During the 2014 general elections, Professor Mutharika criss-crossed this country promising us that he would pass the ATI Bill into law if elected to the Presidency in the shortest time possible. But, above everything else, being the good citizen that he has always been, Prof. Mutharika realises that Malawi has become the poorest country in the world, in the past 22 years, due to self tendencies of doing things in secrecy. Cashgate is a good example of tragedies that have resulted from such kind of behavior. Will he want history to judge him for being a leader who did not cease the opportunity to end corruption and bribery when it (the opportunity) came knocking in the form of Access to Information Bill- passed by Parliament yesterday, 14th December, 2016? Will he want to refuse to accent to this important bill and let people continue to suffer in hospitals, prisons and villages due to hunger, shortage of drugs, warped services, skewed distribution of coupons, etc? Will he refuse to sign the bill into law to risk a shameful ouster from power by angry Malawians in 2019?? Lest we forget, Malawians are capable of doing just that. Check the history books. It has happened before. Malawians used the ballot box to achieve that.
If I were him, I would choose to side with Malawians at this critical hour. Malawians are tired of the culture of thefty, bribery, lying and corruption. Malawians want their stolen money back. Malawi don’t want a repeat of Cashgate. ATI is the first step to that reality. So please, Mr. President, sign the bill into law without delay. This is what Malawians want and now. I am sure, you have nothing to hide and nothing to fear. But, if you refuse to sign, we will all become suspicious. We will become afraid. I rest my case.
Kent Y.G. Mphepo – Blantrye (0888435629 – for constructive dialogue only)
Kent Y.G. Mphepo you have constructively and objectively analysed issues!!!!
Wakwiya ndi mfiti for our nation.
You are there to do that not just wasting time, lets go to Electoral reform bill now, if God is for us who can be against us? well wishers lets hold our hands together and get out from this mess, enough is enough!!!!!, am sure electoral Commissioners they are busy doing their work not just sitting and waiting for 2019, let them work on electoral Reform and stop working on how they will rig the election in favor of ruling party, God is watching you.
God bless you.
That’s the opposition that we need.Government should taste a hot soup now.Thumb up the opposition.
Your honour, Pastor Malison Ndau, if you are not careful enough with the dpp crooks, you will finish like curtains. Remember if you happen to finish like that, we will not allow you to come back on the pulpit. Mukakhala ku “NAUDZU” ODALA. kkkkkkk.
victory indeed. koma nanga ka mtchona kameneka kakapanga veto titani.
Kamntchonaka sikangayese kupanga veto or else BP ikatenga. MCP has already started cleaning the house ready for 2019
strong opposition mwa yi tha
Well done to the opposition MPs and a few DPP MPs such as Paul Chibingu! You have fought a good fight to have this Bill passed in Parliament. of special mention should be the Chairpersons for the Media & Communications Committee, and Legal Affairs Committee Sam Kawale and Max Thyolera! You were always up to the task to make the necessary amendments to bring the Bill to its original form – not the “Butchered” version of the DPP. I should therefore not hear anything that the DPP-government (by the way, the Speaker correctly clarified that there is the “Malawi Government”, not “DPP Government” has passed the Access to Information Bill because we all followed the proceedings on radio and could hear how George Chaponda and Malison Ndau attempted to derail and delay the passing of the bill