A survey of Ugandan Public Servants has found limited knowledge of the country’s Access to Information Act, with just one respondent saying he possessed a copy of it.
The survey said some officers claimed to have seen it on the internet while the majority had never heard of it.
A total of 1,796 Government workers responded to the survey, run between 20 September and 10 October, 2019.
A report accompanying the survey says that relevant Ministers had not complied with the requirement of reporting annually to Parliament on implementation of the Act.
“At Local Government level there isn’t a culture of routine reporting on access to information issues to District Councils and Sub-County Councils,” the report said.
It claimed that Public Servants were more likely to invoke the Official Secrets Act when asked for information, or to direct people to formal channels of information-sharing “which leaves many citizens who have not gone to school out, since they don’t understand it”.
The survey also revealed that many citizens were not aware they had the right to Government information, nor did they know where or how to get the information.
There was no formal or easy means for them to do so.
The report concluded that the value of access to information was recognised around the world that there were many countries where, both on paper and in practice, the right to information was a reality.
It was released to coincide with the Universal Day for Access to Information and the 15th anniversary of the Access to Information Act passing Parliament.
Kampala, 29 September 2020
