During my visit to Botswana two years ago, and in my conversations with Batswana since then, I have been impressed with your country's great potential and desire for progress and democracy. Nevertheless, I believe it will not reach its full potential, or be a truly full-fledged democracy, without a Freedom of Information Act that gives voters the information that they need to make informed decisions and hold your leaders and institutions accountable.
A Freedom of Information Act is pending in Parliament, and this week may be a critical time for it. Some voices in the government oppose the bill, which is no surprise. Governments everywhere love secrecy. Too often, public officials regard their offices as private possessions and forget they merely hold those offices in trust for the public.The same is true of government information. Some officials treat it as personal information, but it should be available to the public, with few exceptions. The exceptions in freedom-of-information laws are critical to their passage, enforcement and effectiveness. Some critics of Botswana's proposed law want absolute exceptions, to prohibit any release of certain categories of information, or to exempt entire parts of the government from the law. This would be unwise, in my view. The best freedom-of-information laws have strong, clear principles but enough flexibility to allow release of information that is in the public interest.
