[kictanet] Day 3: What Policies should inform the FOI?
alice at apc.org
alice at apc.org
Thu Feb 15 08:25:29 EAT 2007
Agree with Rose.
The right to information is the bedrock of all other human rights. The
United Nations recognized this in 1946 when the General Assembly resolved:
"Freedom of Information is a fundamental human right and the touchstone for
all freedom. In its most basic form, a right to information ensures the
people of a democracy: they have the right to demand and receive information
from their government and place an additional obligation on the government
to pro-actively disclose key information to the public. It also allows
citizens to secure information from private bodies where it is necessary for
the protection or exercise of their rights. It is an excellent tool in the
fight against corruption and provides a mechanism for deepening the public's
engagement in development activities and to meaningfully engage and
participate in democracy.
So we should.no.must consider the proposed policy within a broader human
rights framework.
Best
alice
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rose Lukalo" <rlukalo at hotmail.com>
To: <alice at apc.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 15, 2007 7:14 AM
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 3: What Policies should inform the FOI?
> Hi and thans for signing me onto this mailing list.
>
>
>
> I want to support the sentiments of Walu with regard to broadening the
> policy discussion and turning the focus of FOI away from the
> media-government nexus. We must refocus the whole purpose to emphasize the
> place of FOI in human and people's rights.
>
>
>
> Media only ride on the basic right of each Kenyan to access any
> information that affects or influences their ability to fully enjoy their
> rights. That would include information held by non-governmental actors as
> well as government - industries that release pollutants into water or air
> or fail to disclose harmful ingredients in their products; NGOs that
> handle funds in the names of communities or fail to make honest disclosure
> of the purpose for which they ask communities for data; government agents
> holding information that affects an individuals land rights, health
> rights, right to justice etc.
>
>
>
> When we curtail the discussion to media rights then we short-circuit the
> possibility of enabling people to see the broad contribution that such
> legislation could make to our progress as a country and we encourage the
> resistance to this bill.
>
>
>
> Rose Lukalo-Owino
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> From: joseph kihanya <kihanyajn at yahoo.com>
> Reply-To: Kenya ICT Action Network - KICTANet <kictanet at kictanet.or.ke>
> To: rlukalo at hotmail.com
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 3: What Policies should inform the FOI?
> Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2007 06:21:40 -0800 (PST)
> Hi,
>
> Thanks Walu.
>
> Between my Intro and your post I think that is the summary for the day!
>
> Alex, I am making a comment on your post too.
>
> Oh well, day 4 approaches.
>
> All the three days themes are open to all until friday when I must
> summarise al comments to present on Tuesday 20th .
>
> Kihanya
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: John Walubengo <jwalu at yahoo.com>
> To: kihanyajn at yahoo.com
> Sent: Wednesday, February 14, 2007 3:42:08 PM
> Subject: Re: [kictanet] Day 3: What Policies should inform the FOI?
>
>
> 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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