The government says it will only provide part of the information that forms terms of the memorandum of understanding (MoU) it signed with the Israeli government on labour export issues.
This follows calls by civil society organisation (CSO) leaders, who want government to publicise contents of the MoU.
They say this will ensure that youths that want to work in Israel know what to expect from the arrangement.
Speaking at a press briefing organised to address issues that hinge on the Israel deal, Foreign Affairs Minister Nancy Tembo said people will have access to some of the terms in the agreement— but not all the contents.
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She said some contents may not be fit for sharing with the public.
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“The Minister of Information will be looking into the contents of the MoU and, after thorough scrutiny, the public will have access to [some information to appreciate and] see what the two nations have agreed. As we are aware that, through the Access to Information [Act], people are supposed to know important information, [we must also be aware that] the same law also gives a provision where other information can be withheld,” Tembo said.
On his part, Information and Digitalisation Minister Moses Kunkuyu assured Malawians that the contents would be made public at an appropriate time.
“This document will be made public after all the procedures have been done. We, as government, have nothing to hide but it is a good thing that the deal has been finalised and sealed for people to work in the agriculture sector [in Israel],” Kunkuyu said.
However, Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation Executive Director Michael Kaiyatsa said, with some bad news coming from Israel, Malawians are eager to know how safe the youth that are going to work there are.
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“This document has to be made public before other youths are sent to go and work in Israel. There is a need for the youth to understand the nitty-gritties of what they are getting into before embarking on the journey to Israel as part of this labour deal,” Kaiyatsa said.
Meanwhile; the Ministry of Labour has been tasked to come up with the implementation strategy of the Israel agriculture labour deal.
Recently, the Ministry of Labour was asking for funds to establish a new department that would solely look into issues related to the Israel labour export deal.
However, Secretary to the Treasury Betchani Tchereni said the Treasury has no funds for such issues now.
Recently, the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) offered guidance on implementation of the ATI Act, saying contract documents are not entirely public information as some of the documents contain private information which needs to be protected.
According to Section 15 of the ATI Act, an information holder shall make available to the general public information in its custody or under its control as provided for in the section.
It cites contracts, licences, permits, authorisations granted and public-private partnership arrangements entered into by institutions among the information the public can access.
But MHRC Director of Civil and Political Rights Peter Chisi told The Daily Times that the focus on such information could only be the background of the contractor, duration and value of the contracts, among other things.
“Section 15 of the Access to Information Act requires institutions to proactively disclose information in the public interest. Among the information that has to be disclosed are contract documents. So, the guidance from MHRC is that disclosing all the contents of contracts might actually culminate in officials disclosing personal information or private information.
“As such, the guidance that we are providing is that whenever they [office-bearers] are disclosing such information, they must actually focus on disclosing the content in terms of who the contractors are, what services they are providing, the duration of the contract and the value of the contracts. That is the information that is relevant and can promote transparency,” he said.
However, Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency (Csat) Executive Director Willy Kambwandira said he did not agree with the guidance offered by MHRC.
The Csat chief said the guidance does not only contravene provisions of the Act, particularly Section 15, but also violates basic principles of transparency and accountability.
“As provided for under Section 15 of the ATI law, information holders are duty-bound to provide all contractual information to the general public.
“Otherwise, we fear that this [guidance] can only fuel abuse of public resources as people will hide behind contractual obligations not to provide information. This must be challenged,” he said.
Similarly, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace National Coordinator Boniface Chibwana said the spirit of the Act is to make sure that there is transparency and accountability in everything that the government is doing.
“What Malawi Human Rights Commission has to do is to make sure that, indeed, there is no information that should be treated as private. Otherwise, this defeats the whole essence of having the Act,” Chibwana said.
ATI Act came into effect in September 2020.
