By The Times of Zambia

CHIEF Government spokesperson Ronnie Shikapwasha has said the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) allegation that his ministry is the most secretive is out of malice and ill will against the Government.

MISA Zambia yesterday launched a report in which it said that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services was the most secretive institution, while the Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ) won the e-governance award for its informative website.

But Lieutenant General Shikapwasha said in a statement that the report was inaccurate and a biased portrayal of issues.

He said it was clear from the tone of the report that MISA's primary aim was that of malice and ill-will against the Government.

MISA was being insincere by electing to overlook the many positive steps, policy and legislative, which the Government had continued to undertake to enhance public access to information.

He said landmark policy and legal reforms were being undertaken, ranging from live coverage of debates in Parliament to liberalisation of the media industry.

The minister said the number of private and community owned radio stations was now approaching 50, with more than 100 radio licence applications pending.

He said information was the primary product of any media organisation and the multiplicity of media houses was an indication that information was not only available but also accessible of which the Government was a principal source.

By an Act of Parliament, Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation (ZNBC) had been transformed from a national broadcaster to a public broadcaster, while the process for media self-regulation and enactment of the Freedom of Information Bill was on-going.

A national digital migration taskforce was in place to spearhead the country's transition from analogue to digital broadcasting, an important policy intervention aimed at improving the quantity and quality of information.

At the launch of Most Open and Secretive Public Institution report, MISA acting chairperson Fanwell Chembo said that five institutions were targeted in the study through written requests and check of their websites content.

The five were the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Finance and National Planning, Electoral Commission of Zambia (ECZ), Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Ministry of Communications and Transport.

Mr Chembo said of the five institutions, only the Ministry of Education's website was temporarily unavailable, while the rest did not have information on budgets and expenditure.

The ECZ website was the most innovative because it had embraced social forums such as twitter and facebook to reach more citizens and had information dating back to 1991.

He said that on written information requests only the Ministry of Education responded while the other four institutions did not respond.

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