{"id":11456,"date":"2022-08-07T19:14:32","date_gmt":"2022-08-07T19:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/misa-worried-about-freedom-of-info-bill"},"modified":"2022-08-07T19:49:36","modified_gmt":"2022-08-07T19:49:36","slug":"misa-worried-about-freedom-of-info-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/misa-worried-about-freedom-of-info-bill","title":{"rendered":"MISA worried about Freedom of Info Bill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. <\/strong><\/span>The National Director of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Tefo Phatshwane, has expressed a deep concern about prolonged delays with the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill that the Minister of State, Kabo Morwaeng, recently said \u201cwill soon reach Parliament\u201d. Morwaeng said that the Bill would be tabled soon after the consultation process was exhausted. In the wake of the minister\u2019s remarks, Phatshwane said MISA calls on the government to treat the issue as a matter of urgency, considering the benefits associated with such a law to the citizenry, especially in the modern-day.<\/b>
\nTransparency<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cWe call upon the minister to hasten the drafting of the FOI Bill because the President long promised Parliament this Bill,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is laws like this that contribute to development because transparency is an important aspect of any democratic government.\u201d He added that it is through such laws that the government may come closer to realising its agenda as recently set. \u201cIf Botswana took its democracy seriously, this law should have passed years ago,\u201d Phatshwane emphasised.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe envisioned \u2018an educated and informed nation\u2019 in 2016 but failed due to the absence of laws such as this one. The government now talks of a knowledge-based economy. The question is, how do we achieve this when access to information is not a basic right but rather a privilege and the government chooses what and what not to share?<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, he commended the government on consultations for the Media Practitioners Association (MPA) Bill, emphasising the need to uphold the same principles with FOI Bill.<\/p>\n

Saleshando<\/b><\/p>\n

The FOI Bill was first tabled by the MP for Maun West, Dumelang Saleshando, as a private member\u2019s bill in 2011 but was rejected by the ruling Botswana Democratic Party which is now expected to table the bill \u201csoon\u201d. Speaking about the latest developments, Saleshando warned against early celebration, saying the Bill has been coming since a decade ago and it is still coming. \u201cDon\u2019t raise your hopes high,\u201d Saleshando said. \u201cThe drafting of that Bill has been in the final stages since President Masisi was still a minister. When rejecting my Bill years back, he said theirs was at the final drafting stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Decade<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is now over a decade since then. The only logical conclusion we can reach from this is that the government prefers secrecy over openness and transparency. I personally don\u2019t anticipate anything solid from that Bill if it comes.\u201d If it came into operation, the law would feed the public\u2019s right to access information within public authorities, including classified official documents. It would also address the media fraternity\u2019s concerns about the secret nature of the government of Botswana.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Botswana<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Botswana. The National Director of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Tefo Phatshwane, has expressed a deep concern about prolonged delays with the Freedom of Information (FOI) Bill that the Minister of State, Kabo Morwaeng, recently said \u201cwill soon reach Parliament\u201d. Morwaeng said that the Bill would be tabled soon after the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":11455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8,10,12,16],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-11456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","category-parties","category-policy","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"\nMISA worried about Freedom of Info Bill - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The National Director of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Tefo Phatshwane, has expressed a deep concern ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/misa-worried-about-freedom-of-info-bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"MISA worried about Freedom of Info Bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The National Director of the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Tefo Phatshwane, has expressed a deep concern ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/misa-worried-about-freedom-of-info-bill\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-07T19:14:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-07T19:49:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_24.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1513\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1005\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/misa-worried-about-freedom-of-info-bill#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/misa-worried-about-freedom-of-info-bill\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"MISA worried about Freedom of Info Bill\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-07T19:14:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-07T19:49:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/misa-worried-about-freedom-of-info-bill\"},\"wordCount\":466,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/misa-worried-about-freedom-of-info-bill#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_24.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\",\"parties\",\"policy\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/misa-worried-about-freedom-of-info-bill#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/misa-worried-about-freedom-of-info-bill\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/misa-worried-about-freedom-of-info-bill\",\"name\":\"MISA worried about Freedom of Info Bill - 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