By Doh James Sonkey
The Network for Solidarity, Empowerment and Transformation for All, acronymed NewSETA, has presented a draft law on access to information in Cameroon to journalists and civil society activists. The draft law was presented recently in Yaoundé during a solemn ceremony attended by Denis Omgba, representing the Ministry of Communication, Denis Mbezele representing the National Communication Council and the Executive Director of NewSETA, Ateki Claxton Seta.
The inputs of journalists and civil society actors was included in the draft law realised by NewSETA and funded by the Commonwealth Foundation.
After getting the inputs of these two professional bodies, NewSETA, the draft law will then be presented to Members of Parliament this week in Yaounde in order to get their inputs on the topic.
The Executive Director of NewSETA explained to reporters that, “this draft law aims to guarantee and promote the right to access information held by public bodies and private bodies using public funds or holding information of public interests, to enhance transparency, accountability, bilingualism and public participation in governance in Cameroon.” He said Civil Society Activists, journalists have to review this law proposal and make recommendations for further advocacy. “The draft law has about six parts to it and these parts really basically address issues that have to do with the principles. We have a preamble there, but you have, you know, the objectives of the law, you have the principles in which the law is going to be constituted.’’
Ateki Claxton continued that ‘‘I think in some countries like in Zambia, the law on access to information is limited to citizens and holders of residence permits but in Cameroon, I think the proposal we’re making is a bit different because the landscape of access to information today is a bit more complex than you want to limit it to just citizens and holders of residence permits, but then also there is exempt information, because not all information is actually accessible, so it’s important that we clarify the kind of information that is exempt in such a way that people who request information don’t just go to the government institutions and ask for any kind of information, they must know that there’s certain information that they cannot access, right?.’’
He further explained that ‘‘and then there are protections around whistleblowers, for example, somebody who wants, for the sake of public interest to release information that is classified or that they’re not allowed to publish, for the sake of public interest. I think, you know, when it comes to health, when it comes to environmental issues, you know, when that kind of information is prevented from the public, I think for the sake of public interest, somebody can actually blow out that information and that person should be protected. There are also protections on the side of the institutions also, when they judge an information request to be frivolous, to be vexatious, which means that if you are ever confronted with a situation of refusal of access to information or information requested, then you have the capacity to appeal, to make a petition to the commission, and if the commission’s decision is not yet satisfactory, you can actually take it to the competent court. We have a mechanism proposed where there are particular forms that people can use to be able to access information in public and relevant private bodies as well.’’