The National Assembly of the Gambia on Thursday passed the Access to Information Bill tabled before lawmakers since 2019.
The Access to Information Bill 2019 primarily aims to ensure the enforceability of the right to access information through the right courts, it also hopes to compel public official to reveal information to media workers or risk court actions.
Reacting to the development emanating from the National Assembly Madi MK Ceesay, former President Gambia Press Union said: “The Access to information Bill which has finally seen the light after many years of effort to get it become a law is a dream come true for me as former president of the Gambia Press Union (GPU). The Gambia was until the time of passing the bill among very few African countries that do not have the Access to Information bill.”
Hea added: “Section 11 of the Act give right of Access and reads: Subject to this Act every person has a right to access information from a public body.”
“Now with the coming into law and after the President assent to it, the media will have no obstruction to vital information that was formerly held unto by some government official purportedly hiding behind no authority to give such information. Now journalist will have access to information without delay as per the Act,” Ceesay publisher of Daily News newspaper and also national assembly member for Serekunda West said.
Muhammed MS Bah, Vice President of Gambia Press Union (GPU) described the passing of the Access to Information Bill as a great milestone that will help the media and the public to access relevant information from public officials, adding that it will also strengthen and open doors of transparency and accountability on governance and this is key in any democratic society.
“The Bill has penalty attached which deter public officials from refusing to give relevant information to the public. This will enhance the work of journalist and the media fraternity as well. It will also help civil society and the academia to easily access public information,” GPU Vice President submitted in his reaction.
Lamin Cham, Editor-In-Chief, and Standard Newspaper also welcomed the passing of the Bill, arguing that accessing information from public servants has been a nightmare for Gambian journalists and will be over soon.
“I am very delighted with the passing of the bill, because it will make the work of journalist quite easy in accessing information from public servants. Getting information from public servants has been a nightmare for journalists but with the enacting of this bill this will be the thing of the past,” Cham told The Voice.
Cham further observed that the bill will compel public servants to disclose information to the press without giving excuses, saying that the passing of the bill will also help strengthen democracy and rule of law in the country.
He called on the journalists to make the best use of the situation in accessing information from the public servants, advising that journalists must always remind themselves of the basic principles of journalism in accessing information from public servants.