Govt enforces stricter terms on access to information
Minister for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Mr Nape Nnauye
What you need to know:
The idea is to turn the access to information exercise into a mandatory and a legally binding task for those holding it (information officers) but that its flow should also be in a manner that does not jeopardize the safety and security of the nation.
Dodoma. Any person, who discloses information withheld by a public authority, will now face a jail term of between three to 20 years.
This comes as the government seeks to streamline the flow of information from those holding it (information officers) to the general public.
The idea is to turn the access to information exercise into a mandatory and a legally binding task for those holding it (information officers) but that its flow should also be in a manner that does not jeopardize the safety and security of the nation.
The jail term will vary in accordance with the type and the presumed damage that the disclosed information, which was deliberately withheld by the public authority, may have on Tanzania’s safety and security.
“This means that the information holder will now be obliged to disclose the information regarding development activities in his/her area. It means that the exercise of disclosing information to citizens will no longer be taken like any other act of charity but rather, a legally binding exercise to the information holder,” the minister for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Mr Nape Nnauye.
