[open-government] Access to information a right in new Kenyan constitution

Fri Sep 3 11:07:51 UTC 2010

Dear Gerhard,
I would agree with your general point, but disagree with your focus. 
All these (namely, open data policies, constitutional provisions, 
statutes on right to / freedom of information, institutional ombudsman / 
authorities to implement these, progressive information architectures, 
technical capabilities, sound data collection policies and 
implementation of those policies at every level of governance, and a 
hundred other considerations) are interconnected.

Just as one cannot expect a good information architecture to solve 
things in face of a hostile government, one cannot expect good 
intentions embodied in a constitution to automatically translate into 
transparency, accountability, equity of information access, and 
empowerment of citizenry (the shift from subject-hood to citizenship).

However a constitutional provision mandating access to information is as 
good a position, nay even better a position, than most others in which 
information-activists could find themselves.

You wrote:
 > I am not aware of any country on the globe where
 > a single constitutional provision without transformation
 > into Acts and Ordinances did show any significant effect.

I am however aware of countries where even statutes embodying the right 
to information have not led to transformations of any significant sort, 
and more or less remain in the statute books gathering dust.  Thus, 
without the supportive ecosphere, no singular condition is sufficient to 
ensure open data implementation.

Regards,
Pranesh

On Monday 30 August 2010 10:23 PM, Innovation Navigator wrote:
> Dear Pranesh, Dear colleagues,
>
> I am not aware of any country on the globe where
> a single constitutional provision without transformation
> into Acts and Ordinances did show any significant effect.
>
> If open data policy would be so simple as stated in litera c,
> then why did the implementation of open data policy
> not progress substantially in the past 20 years?
> Even in forerunner countries as AU, Canada and the US?
>
> Sorry, common legal practice showed that in the
> permanent conflict with data protection, copyright and other
> rights and restrictions, open data implementation turned
> out to be very tricky.
> Even constitutional principles are in permanent conflict.
>
> So lets see the evaluation report in ten years,
>
> kind regards,
>
>
> Gerhard
-- 
Pranesh Prakash
Programme Manager
Centre for Internet and Society
W: http://cis-india.org | T: +91 80 40926283

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