South Sudan committed itself to move on the line of democracy and the Access to Information Bill is important to allow people to make informed choices.
This is the view Joy Kwaje Eluzia, the chairperson of the Committee of Information, Telecommunications and Culture at the National Legislative Assembly, shared with CRN after the second reading of the information access bill on Wednesday.Ms Kwaje presented the joint report from her Committee and the Committee of Legislation and Justice on the on the Right of Access to Information Bill to the House proposing a number of changes after the first reading.
The committees proposed that the bill should be renamed Access to Information Bill, reduced the time organisms have to answer requests for information and the appointment of the Information Commissioner should be approved by the Assembly.
In a cool debate, Minority Leader Onyoti Adigo Nyikwac from the SPLM-DC said the Bill was a very important instrument to promote a good recording system at government level and to combat corruption and bad governance.
A number of MPs, including SPLM chief whip Bangout Amum Okiech and independent Mary Kiden Ekopa, proposed to put on hold the third reading of the Access to Information Bill until the Data Protection and the National Secrets bills were passed.
Ms Kwaje said the change should have been made before the second reading during the public auscultation period.
In the end, the MPs passed the Access to Information Bill to its immediate third reading.