The growth and maturity of democracy in any society striving to build this model of governance is closely tied in with openness and accountability in all areas of public endeavour.
This is a truth that quickly responds with harsh repercussions when defied.
That is why it is critical for all public officials to not only keep this in mind, but put in place mechanisms to ensure openness and accountability, when carrying out their duties.
President Jakaya Kikwete touched on this pertinent area when opening the orientation seminar for ministers, their deputies, and permanent secretaries whose theme is Understanding Unity, Cooperation, Accountability for Sustainable Development in Dodoma on Monday.
He reminded ministers of the need to be open, ensure information is made available, especially to the media, which is the medium, through which the public at large will get to know what is going on within the government.
As pointed out by the president, the gap in information flow has been exploited by political and sectarian interests, damaging the government image in the eyes of the public.
Save for a few government institutions, which have put in place mechanisms to respond to media pursuit for information, many are still stuck in operational secrecy, even over issues which are ‘open secrets’ so to speak.
The experience of many a journalist is that some ministries have ‘perfected’ a system of ‘running’ away from the media, when asked to respond to even the most routine of issues.
This behaviour is reflected in a MISA-TAN research released in October last year, which sent out a questionnaire to a number of public institutions.
Only the Public Service Management at President’s Office responded in time and in the most transparent manner to earn the top trophy for transparency, while the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlement then earned a padlock for being the most secretive.
Some people reading the report then wondered what was so secret about land, housing and human settlement issues!
Sadly, some of the ministries mentioned in the report, routinely view journalists seeking responses to public queries as troublemakers, whose sole mission is to expose the government as inefficient.
Is it so difficult to assign people who are trained in media issues to oversee this very crucial area, and ensure they are fully locked into the information circuit of the institution?
Indeed with a clear mandate, they can respond timely to issues which are routine and save the government not only embarrassment, but expose misinformation and lies.
Again many of those who were members of the President’s cabinet in 2005-2010 will recall that he issued a directive to all ministries to ensure media have access to information.
This included setting aside days they would meet and answer questions from the media. The directive was implemented by a few ministries for a while and then quietly abandoned.
For the sake of enhancing accountability and democracy, the president’s call this time must be translated into action, most urgently and sustained.
The government must also appoint a spokesperson with the authority and resources, both human and financial to undertake the task.
It should not be forgotten that the public has a right to such information under the constitution.
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