ACCESS TO INFO BILL VITAL

 Absence of the Access to Information Bill is negatively affecting development in the education sector in the country.Members of Parliament, education experts from both the civil society and government made the observation in Lilongwe on Thursday during a meeting on Access to Information in Education.The participants said the law will allow communities access information on development taking place in their areas.Government says the bill will be tabled at the end of this year.During the meeting on Thursday, a survey by the Civil Society Coalition for Quality Basic Education revealed that more than eighty percent of communities do not have access to relevant information on education.According to the survey, comminities are always left in the dark as far as development in the education sector is concerned.Participants, who included members of parliament, agreed that enactment of the Access to Information Bill will solve the challenge of accessing information among people in the country.Executive Director for Civil Society Coalition for Quality Basic Education, Mr. Benedicto Kondowe, says the bill has a lot to do with development in the education sector.Chairperson of the Parliamentary Media and Communication Committee, Mr. Kondwani Nankhumwa says Access to Information bill will be tabled this year. It remains to be seen therefore if the Access to Information Bill will be passed or presented in parliament at all nine years after it was hatched.