USD $66.00
Access to Information in Africa
Law, Culture and Practice
Series: - Afrika-Studiecentrum Series, Volume: 27
For a long time, Africa has 'lagged' behind global advances in transparency, but there are now significant developments on the continent. In a ground-breaking book,
Access to Information in Africa brings together for the first time a collection of African academics and practitioners to contribute to the fast-growing body of scholarship that is now accumulating internationally. This is therefore an African account of progress made and setbacks suffered, but also an account of challenges and obstacles that confront both policy-makers and practitioners. These challenges must be overcome if greater public access to information is to make a distinctive, positive contribution to the continent’s democratic and socio-economic future. This book offers a necessarily multi-dimensional perspective on the state of ATI in African jurisdictions and the emerging, new praxis - a praxis that will entail a genuine domestication of the right of access to information on the continent.
Fatima Diallo is a PhD affiliate in Legal Anthropology at the African Studies Centre, Leiden. As a Senegalese constitutionalist from Gaston Berger University, she is the deputy general secretary of the African Network of Constitutional Lawyers where she acted, for the past years, as the engine of the Access to Information Working Group. She was dedicated to monitor the network research agenda on governmental transparency and accountability.
Richard Calland is Associate Professor of Public Law at the University of Cape Town. In a recent Columbia University publication on measuring the impact of access to information, Professor Sheila Coronel described Calland as "a South African activist and academic who was one of the pioneers of the global Right to Information movement". In recent years, Calland convened the Access to Information Working Group of the African Network of Constitutional Lawyers.
Richard Calland is Associate Professor of Public Law at the University of Cape Town. In a recent Columbia University publication on measuring the impact of access to information, Professor Sheila Coronel described Calland as "a South African activist and academic who was one of the pioneers of the global Right to Information movement". In recent years, Calland convened the Access to Information Working Group of the African Network of Constitutional Lawyers.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
List of Illustrations
Introduction: Navigating the Transparency Landscape in Africa
Richard Calland & Fatima Diallo
PART ONE
ACCESS TO INFORMATION: THEORETICAL CHALLENGES IN THE AFRICAN CONTEXT
1. The Right of Access to Information: The State of the Art and the Emerging Theory of Change
Richard Calland
2. The Problem of Access to Information in African Jurisdictions: Constitutionalism, Citizenship, and the Human Rights Discourse
Colin Darch
3. Transparency and Power Relations: Socio-Anthropological Perspectives on the Right of Access to Information
Fatima Diallo
4. Constitutional Domestication of the Right of Access to Information in Africa: Retrospect and Prospects
Fola Adeleke
PART TWO
THEMATIC STUDIES: STATISTICS, INTERNET, EITI AND ATI
5. Statistics, Indicators and Access to Information in African Countries
Colin Darch
6. The Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative and Corruption in Nigeria: Rethinking the Links between Transparency and Accountability
Uwafiokun Idemudia
7. Towards Realizing the Right of Access to Internet-Based Information in Africa
Fola Adeleke & Matilda Lasseko Phooko
PART THREE
ATI REGIONAL CONTEXT AND COUNTRY STUDIES
8. An Actionable Constitutional Right of ATI: The Case of Southern Africa
Matilda Lasseko Phooko
9. The Uganda Freedom of Information Campaign: Stuck in the Mud?
Dan Ngabirano
10. Realizing the Right of Access to Information in kenya: What Should Stakeholders Be on the Lookout for?
Edwin Abuya
11. The Right to Information in Burkina Faso: An Unfinished Quest
Abdoul Karim Sango
12. Access to Information and Transparency: Opportunities and Challenges for Nigeria’s FOI Act 2011
Morayo Adebayo & Akinyinka Akinyoade
List of Contributors
Index
Acknowledgements
List of Acronyms and Abbreviations
List of Illustrations
Introduction: Navigating the Transparency Landscape in Africa
Richard Calland & Fatima Diallo
PART ONE
ACCESS TO INFORMATION: THEORETICAL CHALLENGES IN THE AFRICAN CONTEXT
1. The Right of Access to Information: The State of the Art and the Emerging Theory of Change
Richard Calland
2. The Problem of Access to Information in African Jurisdictions: Constitutionalism, Citizenship, and the Human Rights Discourse
Colin Darch
3. Transparency and Power Relations: Socio-Anthropological Perspectives on the Right of Access to Information
Fatima Diallo
4. Constitutional Domestication of the Right of Access to Information in Africa: Retrospect and Prospects
Fola Adeleke
PART TWO
THEMATIC STUDIES: STATISTICS, INTERNET, EITI AND ATI
5. Statistics, Indicators and Access to Information in African Countries
Colin Darch
6. The Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative and Corruption in Nigeria: Rethinking the Links between Transparency and Accountability
Uwafiokun Idemudia
7. Towards Realizing the Right of Access to Internet-Based Information in Africa
Fola Adeleke & Matilda Lasseko Phooko
PART THREE
ATI REGIONAL CONTEXT AND COUNTRY STUDIES
8. An Actionable Constitutional Right of ATI: The Case of Southern Africa
Matilda Lasseko Phooko
9. The Uganda Freedom of Information Campaign: Stuck in the Mud?
Dan Ngabirano
10. Realizing the Right of Access to Information in kenya: What Should Stakeholders Be on the Lookout for?
Edwin Abuya
11. The Right to Information in Burkina Faso: An Unfinished Quest
Abdoul Karim Sango
12. Access to Information and Transparency: Opportunities and Challenges for Nigeria’s FOI Act 2011
Morayo Adebayo & Akinyinka Akinyoade
List of Contributors
Index
Anyone interested in transparency and accountability in Africa, and anyone concerned with the practice or study of access to information, or advocacy in support of the right in Africa.