[kictanet] Day 3: What Policies should inform the FOI?

[John Walubengo]

Thanx Kihanya for your efforts.  Indeed this is a fairly
un-convential topic in that it has no obvious or immediate
financial connotations - hence the slower responses...

But back to my contribution.  I think the policy informing
the Freedom Of Information bill should look towards
empowering the citizens through facilitating their access
to knowledge/information.  We need to think through how our
collective data regarding our heritage, history, social and
economic  transactions can be harnessed and made to serve
the common good.

I know this bill has tended to create controversy because
it has often been looked at in the narrow terms of the Govt
vs the Media i.e.  Media seeks info visa-vis Govt sits on
Info. True, this could be one of the issues but it should
not limit our scope because the bill should be a reflection
of broader policy issues that touch on different data
sitting on various platforms such as (Private) Media
Broadcasters, Mobile service providers, ISPs, eBankers,
etc. 

How for example can KTN be asked to share (or sell) their
valuable film clips to the Kenya Archives dept? How can the
East African Standard avail their 100years+ data to the
public?  When or Why should Safaricom/Celtel divulge the
SMS transcript of a certain subscriber to the Police, to
the Media or the Private Investigator? What kind of data
security standards and practices should we place for
critical and national data stores such as KRA, KPA,
Immigration, etc? What of the Certification Authority (CA)
providers that are likely to play a cenral role in a future
eCommerce environment, how will they collect, protect and
avail their data?

So I think these are some of the Policy issues that need to
be thrashed out in the process of coming up with the final
FOI bill.

walu.



 

--- joseph kihanya <kihanyajn at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Dear All,
> 
> I trust we may now move on to day 3. Those with comments
> still on day 1 and 2 can still do so.
> The themes were...
> 
> Day 1: Why Freedom of Information  (FOI) Act?
> Day 2: What are the current modalities for accessing data
> held by Data Handlers (Govt or Private Sector)?
> 
> 
> Today's topic really looks as to waht should be the basic
>  reasoning behind the FOI policy and hence law.
> 
> The principles listed hereunder have been recognized by
> Article 19 ( an international organizatioin dealing with
> freedomm of te press and related issues) as what should
> guide the FOI laws(policy).
> 
> • PRINCIPLE 1. Maximum disclosure 
> 
> That the law should seek this as its underpinning
> philosophy.
> 
> • PRINCIPLE 2. Obligation to publish
> 
> That there should be an obligation to publish and
> requests should be for non-crucial/ essential / bulky
> information.
> 
> • PRINCIPLE 3. Promotion of open government 
> 
> That the  law should promote / recognise  the importance
> of open government.
> 
> • PRINCIPLE 4. Limited scope of exceptions
> 
> That the exceptions should be clear , precise and
> allowable in a democratic society/ i,e should not take
> away what the law seeks to grant.
>  
> • PRINCIPLE 5. Processes to facilitate access
> 
> Clear processes for request should exist.
> 
> • PRINCIPLE 6. Costs
> 
> These should be kept at a  minimum for the public has
> already paid for the creation of the information through
> taxation.
> 
> •  PRINCIPLE 7. Open meetings 
> 
> Other than informnation, there should bea  promotion of
> open dialogue at decsion making level.
> 
> • PRINCIPLE 8. Disclosure takes precedence 
> 
> The tests that are to be applied by the commssioner and
> the appeal tribunal should seek disclosre unless the
> exceptions and the public interest demand otherwise.
> 
> • PRINCIPLE 9. Protection for whistleblowers 
> 
> That those who disclose information that is in the public
> interest, inspite of the exceptions should not be
> victimised/ should be protected.
> 
> 
> Lets go!
> 
> Kihanya
> 
> 
>  
>
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