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{
    "id": 238475,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/238475/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 156,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Prof. Anyang'-Nyong'o",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 193,
        "legal_name": "Peter Anyang' Nyong'o",
        "slug": "peter-nyongo"
    },
    "content": "Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, I beg to move the following Motion:- THAT, this House grants leave for the introduction of a Bill for an Act of Parliament entitled \"Freedom of Information Bill\" for the purposes of nurturing information resources as a tool for development. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, the hon. Omingo will second this Motion. I would also like to acknowledge, in moving this Motion, that the Government drafted a Bill last year on freedom of information after many years when the NGOs and civil society had been discussing this and indeed the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) too has been in a process of drafting a Bill to that effect. So, in this Motion, we would like the Government to join us in ensuring that this country has a freedom of information law. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, let me begin by explaining to the House what \"freedom of information\" is all about. The United Nations principles of freedom of information was passed and published in the year 2000 and it defines freedom of information as \"the right to know; the citizens' right to have access to public information\". It also entails the obligation of public institutions, particularly the Government, to ensure that they facilitate access to this public information by the citizens and other organisations of society especially by ensuring that this information is available in published form or through the electronic media particularly the internet. Mr. Deputy Speaker, Sir, secondly, freedom of information demands that governments do not interfere with the flow of information to the public, journalists or the media for that matter, and to whoever among the citizenry who would require this information for purposes of making decisions that appertain to individual or public interest. Access to information is justified by the simple principle that official information is public property and that this official information is created and maintained for the interest of the public since governments exist for the purposes of serving societies that create them."
}