MHRC decries delay to hire information officers

Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has expressed concern over the delays by some public institutions to appoint information officers to provide information to the public.

In an interview on the sidelines of the training for information officers on Access to Information (ATI) law on Friday in Blantyre, MHRC ATI committee chairperson Baldwin Chiyamwaka observed that most public institutions are yet to appoint information officers.

He said public institutions were supposed to appoint information officers within 90 days after the ATI law was enacted.

Said Chiyamwaka: “We know that some of the institutions have complied with the law, they have appointed information officers, but it is also important for the Ministry of Information [and Digitalisation] to publish these names. But until now, no list of information officers has been published, and that is a challenge because people don’t know who to request information from within a particular institution.

“So, we are appealing to all public institutions to appoint information holders and possibly for the Ministry of Information to come up with a list and publish it as it is required by the law.” 

He further observed that there is low demand for the public seeking information from public institutions and stressed the need for Malawians to be oriented on ATI to appreciate that there is a law that enables them to access information.

“So it’s also incumbent on the commission to help these information holders to be conversant with the law,” said Chiyamwaka.

In a separate interview, Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) director of standards development Fred Sikwese, who was among the participants, said the bureau had already appointed him and his colleague as information officers.  

He said the training was beneficial to the bureau, saying it highlighted what processes need to be put in place for people to access information.

“What we have heard is that we need to have names and contact details of the designated officers, so that if someone wants to contact the information officer, they can get the details on the website,” said Sikwese.