By Victorine Biy Yongka
Representatives of civil society, the media, faith-based organisations, public officers and parliamentarians from Cameroon, Central and Francophone West African countries have noted with regret that the hoarding of information by government officials negatively affects the socio-economic and political growth of a nation.
The remark was made recently in Yaounde during a workshop that identified better ways of fighting for freedom of information (FOI), promoting open governments and improved relations between citizens and the administration, through the adoption of laws and institutional measures designed at guaranteeing freedom of information.
According to the South African Advocate, Pansy Tlakula, freedom of information and expression is the very basis on which strong democracies can be built. "There can be no free and fair elections without a free media and free flow of information that will enable voters to exercise their democratic rights," she said.
According to her, government officials are supposed to share information with its citizens so as to ensure good governance, accountability and democracy. Tlakula said, "secrecy leads to a culture of rumour and conspiracy; secrecy leads to corruption."
In Africa, government officials monopolise information needed by citizens for the economic and socio-political growth of the country. The situation has, in a way, led to the imprisonment and intimidation of some media practitioners who go a step further to investigate and publish such information considered to be vital to the public but considered confidential by government officials.
Violations of the rights to freedom of expression and of information are still on the rise. Cases like the harassment, threats and intimidation of journalists and media practitioners, undue political interference with the media, victimisation of media houses deemed critical of government policies, seizure of equipment and closure of private media establishments are recurrent in Africa.
Commenting on the case of Cameroon, an official from the official gazette, Mme Evaah Berthe, argued that citizens do not seek for information. She maintained that few persons, most often, Parliamentarians consult decrees, laws and ordinances published in the official gazette.
She, however, stated that the poor level of consulting Cameroon's official gazette is partly because many do not know where to fine it.The workshop, which is the first of its kind, was organised within the context of freedom to information and of expression.
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