Legal strategic framework for entrenching the right to public information as the bedrock of the culture of transparancy and accountability in African countries

Abstract

Citizen and media right to access to information generated and received by public institutions is essential for controlling corrupt practices, which flourish wherever there are low levels of transparency and accountability. This paper explores the theoretical basis as well as the ethical and political justifications for the right, and introduces the legal and strategic framework for using information access to promote the culture of transparency and accountability, especially the promotion and exercise of personal right of access to public information of value to public interests. The paper uses the right to information (RTI) law as a concrete instrument for enabling broad citizen right to information and the cognate government obligation to provide mandatory access to citizens and other legal persons, as a means of demonstrating openness, transparency and accountability in its operations. The primary goal is to demonstrate why it is imperative for the core RTI law to be supported by other instruments to form a full complement of information framework.