Last Friday, Minister of Finance Simplex Chithyola Banda presented the 2024-25 national budget themed ‘From Economic Recovery to Resilience through Accelerating Production and Enhancing The Legal And Regulatory Environment to Protect The Economy’. A number of stakeholders have already weighed in on the presentation. Apart from the usual priority areas that enjoy a fair share from this financial blueprint, another area of interest would be on how much shall be allocated towards the implementation of the Access to Information (ATI) Act
I recall that, in August 2005, I was part of a delegation that went to South Africa on a benchmarking tour on the Access to Information Bill. The delegation comprised Parliamentary Media Committee members, senior government and Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA)-Malawi officials. I found myself in the team by virtue of being the then Misa Malawi chairperson, the media body which championed the enactment of the bill.
Truth be told, in its formative stages, the ATI Bill met resistance across the spectrum, especially from some legislators. I remember that in one of the orientation sessions on the bill, one lawmaker remarked: “If a journalist can kill with a knife, what more if we give him/her a gun?” figuratively implying that passing the bill into law was akin to giving journalists more ammunition to make them become even more ‘mischievous’. Probably, the resistance emanated from the fact that the bill was being championed by a media body. This, therefore, called for more action to convince these lawmakers that the bill was for the benefit all Malawians.
Misa, therefore, felt that the benchmarking tour was necessary to ensure that legislators understood what the bill was all about. Moreover, the presence of Anthony Kamanga, SC, then Chief Parliamentary Draftsman from the Ministry of Justice (he later became Solicitor General) in the delegation helped in ensuring that the bill was accepted within the corridors of power.
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South Africa was picked because the country already had the Promotion of Access to Information Act 2 of 2000, fondly known as PAIA. While in South Africa, the delegation visited a number of institutions key to the implementation of PAIA.
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It is, therefore, comforting to note that the ATI law eventually came into force on September 30 2020, after over 17 years of running battles and mind games which were characterised by ultimatums and finger pointing. Currently, the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) is charged with the mandate to oversee the implementation of this legislation, with the Ministry of Information providing backstopping support. Originally, the framers of the bill wanted a standalone and independent body— the ATI Commission— to oversee implementation of the ATI law but, considering the financial implications, it was proposed that it be housed under MHRC.
However, over three years later, it appears that there are still a number of grey areas as well as challenges which need to be addressed to ensure effective implementation of this legislation. These include independence of MHRC, in terms of financing and capacity, as well as the readiness of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to have in place proper information management systems and ATI manuals— if recent media reports are anything to go by.
First, MRHC gets funds from government, implying that successful implementation of the law depends on the goodwill of the later. For instance, during the mid-year budget review, the Ministry of Finance slashed funding for MHRC in the 2023-24 National budget. Initially, the commission was allocated K2.06 billion in the financial plan which Parliament approved in March 2023. However, the budget was revised to K1.95billon, representing a 5 percent drop. Besides, funds for financing activities related to the implementation of the Act are tapped from the same basket which MRHC use to implement other activities as per its mandate. Quite tricky, isn’t it?
Furthermore, going by the recent public hearings conducted by the Parliamentary Media Committee, the absence of ATI manuals and proper records management systems appears to be one of the major challenges. Yet this is a bedrock for ATIA compliance.
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For instance, our visit to Civic Offices in Cape Town coincided with a hearing of one contractor who came to find out why his bid had not been successful. We witnessed a panel of those involved in evaluation of bids taking the contractor through records, which included processes followed to evaluate his bid and how he scored. At the end of the hearing, the contractor appreciated why his bid was not successful. This would not have been possible in the absence of proper records.
Therefore, as legislators are scrutinising the budget, expectations are that funding for the implementation of ATI law will be given serious consideration in the spirit of the 2024-25 budget theme.
If viewed from the quality management system perspective, the ATI law is a recipe for the promotion of accountability and transparency, efficiency and good governance. It also helps to curb corrupt practices. Corruption thrives where there are no proper procedures required to access a particular service.
Of course, this is going to be toll order considering the myriad economic challenges that Malawi is facing. Unfortunately, democracy is not cheap.
