The Civil Society Coalition on Access to Information Law (ATI) has urged the Minister for Information and Broadcasting Services Chishimba Kambwili to consider speeding up the process of enacting the Access to Information law.
In a statement released to the media and signed by Acting JCTR Director, Geoffrey Chongo, the coalition said that any attempt to tie the ATI bill to the last failed referendum on the Bill of Rights will not be tolerated by any well meaning Zambian.
“Assertions that the ATI bill cannot be presented before the National Assembly simply because its provision in the Bill of Rights was rejected by the people during the last failed referendum are not only disheartening but also regressive,” read the statement.
Below is the full statement
As Civil Society Coalition on Access to Information Law (ATI), we wish to take note of the reappointment of Hon. Chishimba Kambwili as Minister for Information and Broadcasting Services. We acknowledge President Edgar Lungu for having had reconsidered Hon. Kambwili because he will not require any form of orientation for him to get down to work. In congratulating Hon. Kambwili, we urge him to consider speeding up the process of enacting the Access to Information law. This we demand that it must be among his priorities.
Any attempt to tie the ATI bill to the last failed referendum on the Bill of Rights should not be tolerated by any well meaning Zambian. Assertions that the ATI bill cannot be presented before the National Assembly simply because its provision in the Bill of Rights was rejected by the people during the last failed referendum are not only disheartening but also regressive.
The PF Government has on many occasions stood on many platforms including the floor of parliament promising not only to take back the ATI Bill to parliament but also enact it into law in the shortest possible time. These promises were made way before the failed referendum was held. The Civil Society Coalition on the ATI is therefore very disappointed because such assertions are contradicting the commitment shown in the past by the Patriotic Front (PF) government to have this law enacted.
Hon. Kambwili is better placed to defend and ensure fulfillment of the PF governments commitment. As such we appreciate and support the inclusion of an ATI clause in the Bill of Rights because it is a matter of right not privilege. However, we do not subscribe to the idea of tying it to the failed referendum because it is a stand-alone and important matter, which can be enacted through an Act of Parliament. We as a Coalition take great exception to any attempts to stall the ATI process once more on account of a non-issue.
We would like to place it on record that one of the contributing factors that led to the failure of the last referendum was on account of lack of access to information because majority of the people were asked to participate in the process without adequate information especially on the content of the Bill of Rights. Thus, the failed referendum reinforces the need for urgent enactment of the ATI law to ensure success of the next referendum.
The coalition on ATI comprising of: Operation Young Vote (OYV), Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF), Transparency International Zambia (TIZ), Southern African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (SACCORD), Jesuit Centre Theological Reflection (JCTR), Press Freedom Committee (PFC), Dialogue for Development (D4D), Common Cause Zambia (CCZ), Non-Governmental Organisation Coordinating Council (NGOCC), Actionaid Zambia and others maintain its position that this law is meant to enhance citizens participation in governance and development, address transparency and accountability challenges our country faces among many benefits. This is the genesis and basis of the cry for ATI law.
Since the ATI law focuses on development issues that benefit all and especially the poor, it is only fair and right for PF government to facilitate its delivery to the people in line with their sustained and continued promise to bring this matter to its logical conclusion. We wish to further retaliate that the ATI Law is for the greater benefit of ordinary people because its about the public accessing information from institutions that channel development.
It is evident that the country has spent unlimited resources and a lot of time on the ATI, therefore, at this very advanced stage of the process, we as a country must not entertain any attempts to obliterate all the gains made in advancing the ATI law.
The Coalition on ATI is of the resolve that the ATI Bill must be tabled as a matter of urgency in the current sitting of parliament and prior to this it must be published in the Government Gazette as per the requirement of the Law. It is also the Coalitions demand that stakeholders be availed the draft ATI Bill before it is presented to parliament.
In conclusion the CSO ATI Coalition would like to assure its membership and citizens across the country that the Coalition shall never relent in its push and demand for people centered laws such as the ATI and would not be discouraged by the attempts to tie the ATI law to the failed referendum because it is not in the best interest of the progressive aspirations of the Nation.
We therefore, take this opportunity to appeal to Hon. Kambwili to ensure that the process of enacting an ATI law is rekindled and given life without delay.
Geoffrey Chongo
Acting JCTR Director
For and On behalf of The Coalition on ATI
This good for nothing gorilla is only good at getting brownie points to please his master lungu. He is good at working under people because he is a failure at enacting change for wider Zambia. He has no clue about human rights in terms of freedom of speech. Just listen to him talk on TV. Very arrogant chap
It is funny how PF thugs are busy trying to stop the Post from being sold on the streets. Yet, PF ministers are the ones buying it at K15, as Chimbwili is showing in this picture. I assume Mmembe did not give him a free copy. Or is Chimbwili the one printing the Post these days?
Ba Upnd, you campaigned against the referendum and now you want parliament to go against the wishes of Zambian by sneaking into the constitution same aspects that Zambian did not bother to go out and vote for. You can have it both ways.
You said No and the PF being a listening government is listening.
@ shu shu shu
Do you know what are you blabbing about? Or it is that your loyalty goes beyond common sense?
If anything, you are either totally ignorant or full paid agent of misinformation.
Being voicersous, intimidating, browbeating and domineering doesnt not constitute hard working. Kambwili doesnt offer anything for the common zambians.
HH would have made a beter pesident.
The better Ministers and better leaders are there in Zambia – only trouble is, they are not in PF at all.
Thanks
BB2014
I thought these beings had declared the post an illegal paper? Then you ask us why we left Zambia? Why in the name of God will I want to live in such a country? If I had no options, yes. But I do, I do have options, hence I left. I have seen people live like humans not like a bunch of wild animals. I have learnt what being human means and why we are different to wild animals. I like what I see here. Most decent people in Zambia would leave the country given a chance.
@nez and fellow bed mates Jay Jay and @Buck Teeth etc won’t you be sick to death by the end of 5 YEARS OF ECL’s TENURE BECAUSE OF YOUR PREJUDICE AND RANCOUR. FIND SOMETHING BETTER TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE.
Worse news:
In 2021 hh will lose again.
Born Free
I went out and voted yes for the referendum unlike fools like you who did not understand what was at stake
@ 1mbecile above
And did you find any Article in Part III which affects AIB implementation?
I may be fool, but I am not sucking and licking like you. Better be fool, than 1MBECILE like you.
LIES AND DECEIT BY LUNGU AND HIS PANGA FAMILY WILL SOON CATCH UP WITH THEM. GOD WILL REVEAL THE TRUTH AND HE WILL JUDGE THE LEADERS OF THIS COUNTRY.
Here is a Zambian conundrum, all based on known facts:
~ PF blew through over $9 billion in 5 years on so-called massive infrastructure
~ but they still failed to complete the Kitwe-Chingola dual carriageway
~ they failed to repair the critical Chingola-Solwezi road
~ PF Ministers illegally continued abusing govt resources after Parliament was dissolved
~ PF abused the Police Force to intimidate and supress UPND
~ PF manipulated the Lusaka votes to the extent that there is no single valid Presidential return for any Lusaka constituency
~ ECZ allowed unknown people onto its servers at MICC
~ despite all the above, Lungu only avoided a rerun by a mere 13,022 votes
How popular is PF really? How can they win in 2021 when they will have no money to blow away under the gaze of…
….. under the scrutiny of the IMF? Only sensible conclusion is that the PF experiment is over. PF will try and get rid of UPND before 2021 because they know that it is game over for PF. They lost the script about economic management, political governance and now they are turning brutal.
BUSHWA!! That’s the only appropriate comment to make.
Kambwili will become President of Zambia earlier than HH. I HAVE NOT SAID hh will never be President of Zambia but will certainly come after Chishimba Kambwili, Harry Kalaba and a few more guys. My personal prediction.
You are not wrong!
WE NEED TO FIGHT INJUSTICE IN OUR COUNTRY. WE NEED TO LIBERATE OURSELVES FROM THIS INJUSTICE INTRODUCED AND IMPLEMENTED BY LUNGU. IMAGINE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY AFTER INDEPENDENCE TO HAVE POLITICAL PRISONERS. OVER 2000 UPND ZAMBIANS ARE IN JAIL FOR EXERC ISING THEIR FREEDOMS OF SPEECH AND POLITICAL ASSOCIATION.
@Untruth, to yourself be true! You know the people at fault are UPND, Coalition of uncivil society, and this unholy unprincipled JCTR group.
The BUFFOON has shelved it for 5 years and you tell him to speed up…really laughble…please get serious…why do you think the Lazy Bum in State House reappointed him!!
@Jay Jay you are a reasonable person or though you try hard to come across against that. Let them delay it for 5 years. Keep PO Act and let them have less rights. It’s the only way to make them appreciate what they disabled in the referendum.
The referendum was not about human rights. Imbedded in there was that Lungu and his ministers’ terms and conditions could not be altered other than by referendum. Because Lungu lost the referendum, he is now talking about fine-tuning the Constitution. Lucky for him! Otherwise he would have had to call for a fresh referendum to change the number of ministers or introduce deputy ministers again. Lungu is slothful.
Press Freedom Committee (PFC) ( Its Press Freedom Committee of the Post Newspaper) (PFC)
Why do you have to deliberately leave out of the post newspaper?
Zambians why have we encapsulated ourselves in non-intellectual driven issues. All we debate abt are non progressive issues that centered on character assassination. Please comrades let us be politically matured
That reporter is Gay – the “girlfriend” to Chimbwili. Wherever, Chimbwili goes that Gay boy follows and is given unlimited access the use.less Minister of Disinformation.
ONLY MOSES SUCCEEDED IN GETTING WATER FROM A STONE. YOU ARE ASKING FOR THE RIGHT THING FROM THE WRONG PEOPLE
In the Bible anything is possible as it was written by an invisible third party…where else can a white man walk on water?
U decampained the referendum and now u want to push kambwili to bring in access to information….! U only want things done wen it suits u..? I know my man kambwili will not be pushed around..! Lets concentrate on economy recovery and not useless upnd agendas…!
Did you even read the changes that the referendum sought to make? The referendum was not about human rights. Imbedded in there was that Lungu and his ministers’ terms and conditions could not be altered other than by referendum. Because Lungu lost the referendum, he is now talking about fine-tuning the Constitution. Lucky for him! Otherwise he would have had to call for a fresh referendum to change the number of ministers or introduce deputy ministers again.
I like African politics. The constitution was shot down. The people successfully did that are now agitating. Where is Nevers and Gen Miyanda on this?
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!
*The people who successfully
Senseless is what it is! Zambians need to guard against these people and seek to be lead orderly. Let the gov’t do their job. We vote them in and they go after 5 years if they don’t perform. Who voted JCTR and Coalition of uncivil Society into their positions to fawn over our rights? We can’t even vote them out. This is an attempt at parallel, gov’t and it ain’t working.
Whatever!
Civil Society in Zambia what have you ever achieved, Kambwili has no respect for you because you operate like partisan party cadres. For as long as you behave as Cadres, you become irrelevant. Look at the Church one group is in support of the religious minister the other is against. Result you will both be irrelevant.
Civil Society in Zambia what have you ever achieved, Kambwili has no respect for you because you operate like partisan party cadres. For as long as you behave as Cadres, you become irrelevant. Look at the Church one group is in support of the religious ministry the other is against. Result you will both be irrelevant.
Zambia is a country of many noisy voices, mostly set up to pump up inflated egos. These groups (civil society,….please), are really disruptive in the process of gov’t. They spread dissent and have an inappropriate tone in addressing gov’t. One would think THEY are the gov’t! I would advise dissolution of these particular groups, JCTR(go back to church business or accept Religious Ministry proposed by HE) and thus bunch of loon heads, Civil Society Coalition ( these just bang in jail). They are causing so much confusion among citizens and speak against gov’t.
Furthermore, they are singly responsible for the failure of the referendum in which they collectively with UPND (agents of mass destruction), advised against it. Now we are on Speed Dial…..! Do this now or we riot I suppose. How can people be so shameless as to wake up everyday with idea of disrupting the wellbeing of citizens. Have they no conscience?
I watched this JCTR make their pitiful moves on TV last night explaining increase in poverty, they can’t even speak English properly. Really struggled to make sentences or get their flossy points across! These people? That we stake our societies on!? Zambians please be serious and reject JCTR and uncivil society coalition of Mumba jumbo loon heads. I AM NOT APOLOGISING FOR CALLING THEM NAMES!
No need to apologise. You are one of those educated airheads who himself struggles to string a paragraph in English but laughs at others in the same PF boat.
Nothing wrong with my paragraphs @Max. Get real!
Nez & Co can’t you comment without using insults? The JCTR is a credible organization and they did their best to educate people on the importance of the BoR which unfortunately was countered by Upnd. I was involved at district level and if I were Kambwili I would listen to them.
The JCTR has no credibility whatsoever. This Catholic Bemba grouping supported Sata in 2011 but is now opposing Lungu just because he is not Bemba. They are laughable. They would not know Satan if he came to receive eucharist from them. They are the same lot like Flaky Bwalwa, men in pantomime dresses.
If you are UPND, you are only permitted to talk to Hon Kambwili only through me. I have to make sense of your gibberish before I give it to the Honourable Minister.
And in which lingo you will speak to him, Zamglish?
Apparently Kabwili died this afternoon in the UTH from heart related complications! Sata told him he was way too fat and he should lose weight but the gorilla said “iyoo shikulu, weight is a result of good milile”. Now he is with Sata in hell. Hallelujah! Amen.
Ba Kambwili, if it ain’t broke do not fix it. What is Zambia missing as a result of this bill?
Very stoopid comment from someone who doesn’t value freedom of speech yet wants to insult everyone under a pseudonym
if you don’t understand something it doesn’t mean everybody else shouldn’t have it. Some of us understand how you cant separate democracy and freedom of speech.