{"id":37855,"date":"2023-01-22T15:20:04","date_gmt":"2023-01-22T15:20:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/access-to-information-act-yet-to-be-implemented"},"modified":"2023-01-22T15:26:48","modified_gmt":"2023-01-22T15:26:48","slug":"access-to-information-act-yet-to-be-implemented","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/access-to-information-act-yet-to-be-implemented","title":{"rendered":"access to information act yet to be implemented"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>The information and justice ministries are currently drafting regulations for the Access to Information (ATI) Act which must be finalised before thenew law will come into operaton.<\/p>\n

This comes after president Hage Geingob signed the bill, passed by the National Assembly, into law on 29 November 2022. \u201cIt is a process that will include some consultations,\u201d information minister Peya Mushelenga said yesterday.<\/p>\n

After the final draft is submitted to the attorney general, Festus Mbandeka, for certification, the act will become operational on the date determined by him, Mushelenga said.<\/p>\n

ATI ACT<\/p>\n

Public and private entities could face court when they refuse to provide information, according to the new Access to Information Act.<\/p>\n

First tabled in the National Assembly in 2020, the act was passed in parliament last June.<\/p>\n

\u201cInformation holders are subject to the authority of the information commissioner in all matters relating to access to information; \u201cAny refusal to disclose information is subject to internal review, appeal and judicial review,\u201d reads the new act gazetted last month.<\/p>\n

Government offices, ministries and agencies (OMAs) are required to release information in advance.<\/p>\n

The head of every OMA and private entity must appoint an information officer and if they fail to do so, they will serve in that role. \u201cA public entity or private entity must assist the information commissioner in the course of any application, investigation or appeal under this act to the best of its abilities,\u201d reads the act. Any person who commits an offence is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding N$100 000 or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years, or to both such fine and such imprisonment, reads the act.<\/p>\n

INFORMATION HEAD<\/p>\n

An information commissioner and their deputy are expected to be appointed to promote, monitor and protect the right of access to information in Namibia. The commissioner is appointed by the president after a selection committee nominates two to three candidates for the National Assembly to approve one. The selection committee is made up of the chairperson of the Public Service Commission, chairperson of the council of the Law Society of Namibia, information executive director, chief executive officer of the Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia and a person nominated by non-governmental organisations that deal with media laws.<\/p>\n

This committee has been criticised by the Access to Information in Namibia (Action) Coalition, that proposed that the media ombudsman should be an additional member of the selection committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhich would also provide a better government-civil society balance. We further propose that interviews of short-listed candidates for information commissioner should take place in public,\u201d the coalition stated. The coalition also wants the private entity to be defined and discussed with the Namibian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Namibian Employers Federation. \u201cTo ensure that it will be practically workable,\u201d they said before.<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Namibia. The information and justice ministries are currently drafting regulations for the Access to Information (ATI) Act which must be finalised before thenew law will come into operaton. This comes after president Hage Geingob signed the bill, passed by the National Assembly, into law on 29 November 2022. \u201cIt is a process that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":37854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-37855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\naccess to information act yet to be implemented - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The information and justice ministries are currently drafting regulations for the Access to Information (ATI) Act which ...\" \/>\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\/namibia\/all-news\/access-to-information-act-yet-to-be-implemented\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"access to information act yet to be implemented\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The information and justice ministries are currently drafting regulations for the Access to Information (ATI) Act which ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/access-to-information-act-yet-to-be-implemented\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-01-22T15:20:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-01-22T15:26:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1674388267.16.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"336\" \/>\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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/access-to-information-act-yet-to-be-implemented#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/access-to-information-act-yet-to-be-implemented\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"access to information act yet to be implemented\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-01-22T15:20:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-01-22T15:26:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/access-to-information-act-yet-to-be-implemented\"},\"wordCount\":483,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/access-to-information-act-yet-to-be-implemented#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/01\/postQueueImg_1674388267.16.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/access-to-information-act-yet-to-be-implemented#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/access-to-information-act-yet-to-be-implemented\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/access-to-information-act-yet-to-be-implemented\",\"name\":\"access to information act yet to be implemented - 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