Use access to information laws to manage Covid-19

When Swedish parliament passed a right to information law some two and a half centuries ago, the goal was a government that was transparent and accountable to its citizens. That spirit informed Kenya’s Access to Information Act 2016.

The global pandemic underscores the need for governments to robustly and proactively provide the necessary information to effectively confront the devastating effects of Covid-19. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres aptly stated that: “This is a time when, more than ever, governments need to be open and transparent, responsive and accountable to the people they are seeking to protect.”

Countries have had to embrace divergent strategies to share information on the pandemic. But in the early days of the pandemic, many had difficulties doing that, which undermined information sharing and spurred conspiracy theories and ostracisation of patients. The first group in Kenya to publicly confess that they had contracted Covid-19 faced social media ridicule and harassment

Unesco asserts that, in a crisis, access to accurate and timely information helps people to make safe choices for themselves and family with governments having a corresponding obligation to widely disseminate public interest information and address disinformation.

Scrutiny

Sadly, many countries took steps that undermined the principles of access to information and ultimately violated their citizens’ rights. Many chose the secrecy way to evade scrutiny and criticism over their handling of the crisis.

The challenges were not limited to the unavailability of information but extended to its integrity. Reliable, precise and complete information on the pandemic has been hard to come by in many countries.

Zimbabwe’s High Court ordered the health and information ministries to provide daily Covid-19 updates in all 16 official languages containing, among other things, a list of all testing and treatment centres and the country’s requirements. In Kenya, failure to proactively disclose information on government expenditure were unsurprising. Reports surfaced of teas and snacks costing millions of shillings and the “Covid billionnaires” scam linked to Kemsa.

The British government opaquely awarded contracts to politically connected entities and dormant firms Ugandan diplomats in Denmark were busted in a leaked Zoom call plotting to steal Covid-19 funds. South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa had to publicly acknowledge that members of his party had corruptly benefitted from Covid-19 funds.

There is a need to take advantage of digital systems to facilitate the right to information and coordination of efforts between various government and private agencies in the response. Citizens can do a civilian audit and oversight of the interventions and policies. The importance of upholding the right to information in a crisis cannot be gainsaid.

[email protected]. @Cheboiksam