MHRC, CSOs differ on contract information

Source: The Times Group Malawi
Author: Feston Malekezo

Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) has given direction that contract documents are not entirely public information as some of the documents contain private information which needs to be protected.

According to Section 15 of the Access to Information Act (ATI), an information holder shall make available to the general public information in its custody or under its control as provided in the section.

It cites contracts, licences, permits, authorisations granted and public-private partnership arrangements entered into by the institution among the information the public can access.

But MHRC Director of Civil and Political Rights Peter Chisi told The Daily Times that the focus on such information could only be the background of the contractor, duration and value of the contracts, among other things.

"Section 15 of the Access to Information Act requires institutions to proactively disclose information in the public interest. Among the information that has to be disclosed are contract documents. So, the guidance from MHRC is that disclosing all the contents of the contracts might actually end up putting in public personal information or private information.

"As such, the guidance that we are providing is that whenever they [office-bearers] are disclosing such information, they must actually focus on disclosing the content in terms of who the contractors are, what services they are providing, the duration of the contract and the value of the contract. That is the information that is relevant and can promote transparency," he said.

However, Centre for Social Accountability and Transparency (Csat) Executive Director Willy Kambwandira said he did not agree with the guidance offered by MHRC.

The Csat chief said the guidance does not only contravene provisions of the Act, particularly Section 15, but also violates basic principles of transparency and accountability.

"As provided for under Section 15 of the ATI law, information holders are duty-bound to provide all contractual information to the general public.

"Otherwise, we fear that this [guidance] can only fuel abuse of public resources as people will hide behind contractual obligations not to provide information. This must be challenged," he said.

Similarly, Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace national coordinator Boniface Chibwana said the spirit of the Act is to make sure that there is transparency and accountability in everything that the government is doing.

"What Malawi Human Rights Commission has to do is to make sure that, indeed, there is no information that should be treated as private. Otherwise, this defeats the whole essence of having the Act," Chibwana said.

The ATI Act came into effect in September 2020.