MFWA expresses disappointment with journalists underutilising RTI Law

MFWA expresses disappointment with journalists underutilising RTI Law - MyJoyOnline

The Media Foundation for West Africa highlights a critical gap between institutional support and actual practice in accessing public information. Despite extensive training and simplified guidelines provided to journalists, there is a widespread failure to utilize the Right to Information law effectively. This underutilization prevents the media from uncovering significant public interest stories, indicating a systemic disconnect that undermines the potential of transparency laws to hold power accountable. A concrete illustration of this struggle is the Foundation’s legal challenge against the Presidency’s refusal to release a KPMG audit report concerning a government revenue contract. The government claimed the document contained sensitive deliberative information, yet the Foundation argues that once executive opinions are formed and communicated, the rationale for secrecy dissolves. This conflict demonstrates the ongoing tension between state opacity and the legal mandate for public access, showing how officials often misinterpret exemptions to withhold data that clearly belongs to the citizenry. This article is profoundly relevant to open data advocates as it exposes the human and institutional barriers preventing information flow. It emphasizes that mere legal frameworks are insufficient without active citizen and media engagement. The incident underscores the necessity of challenging administrative resistance to data release, proving that true openness requires not just statutory rights, but the persistent demand for accountability and the dismantling of bureaucratic excuses for non-disclosure.

Source: myjoyonline.com
Published on 2024-05-15

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