Freedom of access to government information in Africa: trends, status and challenges
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/RMJ-08-2015-0029 |
| Published date | 20 November 2017 |
| Date | 20 November 2017 |
| Pages | 318-338 |
| Author | Brendan Eze Asogwa,Ifeanyi Jonas Ezema |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance |
Freedom of access to government
information in Africa: trends,
status and challenges
Brendan Eze Asogwa
Nnamdi Azikiwe Library University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and
Ifeanyi Jonas Ezema
Nnamdi Azikiwe Library, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria and
Department of Information Science, University of South Africa,
Pretoria, South Africa
Abstract
Purpose –Agitation for adoption of freedomof access to government information is an emerging issue in
Africa and has gathered momentum since 2000 when South Africa passed the first freedom of information
(FoI) law in the continent.This paper aims to discuss the extent of passage of FoI laws in Africa, the reality of
their implementationin some of the countries and the critical challenges and recommendations.
Design/methodology/approach –A document analysis approach was adopted for gathering vital
information on the realities and challenges of FoI implementation in Africa. Literature on the concepts,
principles and practice of FoI were reviewed, and relevant facts and figures were extracted to buttress the
authors’argument.
Findings –Only 14 (25.5 per cent)of the 55 countries in Africa had signed FoI law as on January 31, 2015; 16
(29.0 per cent) are still lobbying, while 25 (45.5 per cent) of the states had no significant plan yet. Political
factors like colonial legacy, poor leadership, inexperienced record managers for the implementation of FoI
Acts (FoIA), corruption and hydra-headed clauses such as “national security, and other privacy rights”
impede accessto government records in Africa. Thepaper recommended among others that Africancountries
should amendrestrictive laws that continue to impede full implantationof FoI laws.
Practical implications –Implementation of the provisions in the FoIA in Africa will not be realistic
unless those restrictive clauses that hinder citizens from freely accessing government information are
reviewedin line with free access to information.
Originality/value –This paper appearsto be the first to review the status of FoIA in Africa since the first
right to informationlaws were signed in the continent.
Keywords Africa, Information management, Freedom of information,
Access to government information, Freedom of information legislation
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The desire for citizens to have freedom of access to government information has been
proclaimed under different names in the statutes of different countries around the world.
The existing democratic process in many parts of the world which results in citizens’
participation in issues concerning them provides a fertile ground for people’s desire for
legislation on freedom of access to government information. This paradigm shift assists in
giving new perspective on its meaning to government and governed. Banisar (2001,2002,
2006) and Sendugwa and O’Connor(2013) suggested that this movement might have started
since 1766 when Sweden passed the firstFreedom of Information Acts (FoIA) in the world,
RMJ
27,3
318
Received20 August 2015
Revised25 February 2016
18August 2016
26September 2016
Accepted1 October 2016
RecordsManagement Journal
Vol.27 No. 3, 2017
pp. 318-338
© Emerald Publishing Limited
0956-5698
DOI 10.1108/RMJ-08-2015-0029
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0956-5698.htm
and since then, nearly 95 countries around the world have adopted FoIA to facilitate access
to government information. Despite this early movement, Sebina (2006) revealed that the
history of Freedom of InformationLaws (FOIL) can be traced to Sweden and Finland where
the laws have existed since the eighteenth century. The USA enacted its law in 1966,
Denmark, and Norway enacted similar laws in 1970. Eight years later, France and The
Netherlands enacted FOI,while Canada, New Zealand and Australia adopted theirs in 1982.
The 1990s witnessed a surge in the number of countries adopting FOI including the
Republic of Ireland in 1997. The new millennium promises to usher many more FOI laws.
Already, countrieslike the UK and South Africa (2000) and many others have legislated FOI.
In Sweden, the Freedom of the Press Act of 1766 (offentlighetsprincipen) granted the
public free access to governmentdocuments, and it has been valid ever since. The success of
the 1766 Act influenced agitationfor the enactment of similar act in other parts of the world.
However, it took over two centuries for a related legislation to be passed in the USA. For
example, the US reeling from the 1974 Watergate scandal, passed a tough FoI law in 1976.
Another landmark which precipitated the adoption of FoI was the fall of the Berlin Wall in
1989 and the rapid growth of civil society groups that demanded enactment of access to
information legislation.
It was in the year 2000 that agitation for FoIA gradually became a very serious issuein
developing countries. The agitation for the adoption of FoI laws gradually gathered
momentum in Africa and in some other developing countries of world within the period.
However, the region that is least touched by the movement is the Middle East where only
Jordan and Israel had their FoI laws passed as at 2013. For instance, Vleugels (2012) and
Sendugwa and O’Connor (2013) revealed that presently, there are 15 countries in the
Americas, 12 in Africa (but 14 as at the time of carrying out thisresearch), 5 in the Caribbean
and 2 in the Middle East which have signed their access to information laws. These
revelations point at why the Middle East is consideredto be the least touched by the FoIA.
The success recordedin the adoption of FOI Laws in most of these African countries may
have been facilitated by a pressure group called Freedom of Information Advocates
of organizations and individualsworking to promote the right of access to information held
by public authorities. In 2013, FOIANet observed that there has been an increasing interest
in adoption of FoIA in the world.For example, they noted that there is a growing recognition
for right to information (RTI)laws across the continent (of Africa) –a confirmation of earlier
observation by Mendel (2008) and Sturges (2017) who observed that in the twenty-first
century, FoI laws havebeen passed both in developed and developing countries.
A close examination of African countries indicates that civil society organizations are
instrumental for greater agitation for the adoption or passage of FoI legislation. The year
2000 remains memorable in this agitation in Africa because it was the year South Africa
signed the first FoI law in the continent. Since then, there has beenaggressive and sustained
agitation by civil society groups for FoI legislation in other African countries. While some
countries in the region willingly adopted FOI laws, others enacted the law as a result of
pressure from civil society groups. Thus, Sendugwa and O’connor (2013) observed that the
governments of Angola, Guinea-Conakry, Niger and Zimbabwe adopted their FoIA on their
own initiative, while that of Nigeria, Uganda and Sierra Leone were secured through the
struggle for democratization.
Sierra Leone signed her FoI law entitled Right to Access Information, RTAI in 2013.
Emmanuel Saffa (the Director of the leading Human Rights Non-Governmental
Organization in Sierra Leone) noted that it took 10 years of agitation to get the
government accept signing the law. The signing of RTAI into law by the President of
Access to
government
information
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