Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has expressed worry over the low number of annual reports that are submitted to the Ministry of Information and Parliament by information holders.
The Access to Information (ATI) Act demands that public institutions submit such reports as one way of easing access to public information.
MHRC Director of Civil and Political Rights Peter Chisi raised the concern in Mzuzu Thursday during an orientation meeting on the ATI Act for commissioners of the Malawi Electoral Commission (Mec) and management.
“I would say that, by 2022, compliance, in terms of reporting to Parliament and the Ministry of Information, was less than 20 percent. In 2023 we worked together with the Parliamentary Committee on Media, which has been very proactive in actually summoning some of the institutions to Parliament to explain their positions.
“After that, we noted some increase in compliance in filing of annual reports. All institutions which were summoned by Parliament in 2023 were given a dateline of up to December to provide their reports… So we, as Malawi Human Rights Commission, are providing that guidance,” he said.
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The laws stipulate time within which reports have to be submitted.
“Every information holder shall, not later than three months after the end of a financial year, submit to the minister a report on their level of compliance with the provisions of this Act during that financial year in the form and manner as may be prescribed.
“The minister shall, within three months after receiving the reports in Sub-section (1), submit an annual report to Parliament covering the general activities of [the] information holder in implementing the provisions of this Act in the year to which the report relates,” a provision of the Act reads.
However, Chisi observed that most institutions are not aware of their obligations.
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“The obligations include reporting to Parliament,” Chisi said.
He said, to address the problem, MHRC is conducting more awareness campaigns so that people and institutions can understand the tenets of the law.
In his remarks, Mec Chairperson Judge Chifundo Kachale said much as there are gaps in satisfying demands of the law, the commission has, in the past two financial years, submitted reports to the Minister of Information.
Kachale said the law provides for proactive dissemination of information which the commission has embraced by, among other things, publishing their work on websites and through traditional media.
“Our commitment is that we shall continue to work in a transparent manner. We are going to start undertaking extensive civic and voter education processes to help people appreciate our work and how they can engage with the electoral processes. Where we need to do more, we are yet to learn from the training that we have today,” he said.
The ATI act came into effect in September 2020.
