CIVIL Rights Activist, Brebner Changala, has demanded that the government must immediately operationalize the Access to Information (ATI) law, which was signed by President Hakainde Hichilema in 2023 but has since been left hanging.
Mr Changala said the government’s failure to issue the statutory instrument that would bring the law into effect amounts to a calculated betrayal of the people and the media fraternity who pushed tirelessly for its enactment.
“This government is deliberately playing games with the people. President Hakainde Hichilema ma de a grand show of signing the ATI bill into law in 2023. It was celebrated as a milestone for democracy and transparency. But to this day, the law remains a dead letter because they have refused to operationalize it. That is nothing but hoodwinking and deception,” Mr Changala charged.
He accused the government of hypocrisy, saying it cannot claim to champion transparency and ac-countability while keeping the ATI law dormant.
“How do you sign such a monumental piece of legislation and then throw it in the dustbin? It is insulting to the intelligence of citizens and a slap in the face of the media that fought for this law for decades,”
Changala stressed that with-out operationalization, the ATI law is meaningless.
“A law that cannot be used is not a law at all. It is a sham, a mockery. We cannot continue to live under a government that hides information from its own citizens. The ATI law must be brought to life now, not tomorrow, not next year,” he demanded.
He warned that continued inertia would erode public trust, branding it a clear sign of bad faith and authoritarian tendencies.