Who is sabotaging the Access to Information law?

Editor, I WISH to react on the Editorial, “Gov’t offices should embrace timely communication” (Sunday Times, June 15). That is the truth and this is a huge impediment towards achieving the kind of powerful journalism that we dream of attaining. It’s hard for Rwanda to achieve this goal, if government institutions aren’t taking the first step to facilitate it. Usually, a journalist doesn’t have to run after officials to get a rebuttal; they are the ones who should instead look for the journalist. Media should also have breathing space to operate in. No one should stand in their way, provided that the Access to Information Law is in place. As a reader I expect members of the parliament to write in response to this editorial. They are the ones who passed the law, and they should be the ones to follow up and see whether it was implemented. If it’s not, they should encourage all the government institutions to act accordingly. If those who pass the law can’t do anything about it, we wonder what the essence of the law in the end is. There should be a big debate in the parliament about this. We shouldn’t think that accountability is only for the institutions that mismanaged public funds. It is also about those who failed to honor their promise to the people of Rwanda. If a law hangs in the air like this, there are of course some people who must be held accountable for this. It’s now more than a year since the law was passed, but look back and see. It looks like the law in question is nonexistent, and those who proposed it don’t even remember it’s there, and that those who know about it intentionally ignore it. I thank The New Times for this timely editorial. After one year, there are many who must answer why they are not following this law. Chris Cyamatare, Rwanda

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Who is sabotaging the Access to Information law?