Zambia - Analysis of the Access to Information Act,

A couple of other provision do refer to the idea of the government having an obligation to disclose information, namely Article 173, setting out as one of the guiding values and principles of the public service as being to provide the public with timely, accessible and accurate information proactively, and Article 255, referring to access to environmental information as one of the principles gover. [...] 4 Zambia: Analysis of the Access to Information Act, 2023 § The Preamble should be amended to refer to the wider external benefits of the right to information and then section 2(2) should be revised so that it calls for interpretation so as best to give effect to those benefits. [...] § The power of the Commission to expand the list of categories of information which are subject to proactive disclosure should be integrated more clearly into the functions of the Commission and it should be made clear that decisions by the Commission in this regard are binding. [...] This includes an obligation to inform the requester that the information is not held and to refer the 2 1 11 requester to another institution or to transfer the request where the public authority knows where the information is held. [...] § The approach of allocating the power to the Chief Justice to adopt procedural rules for the Commission should be reconsidered in favour of letting the Commission adopt its own rules, and a basic framework of procedures should be included in the primary legislation.