Justice Mihayo who is also the Chairperson of the MCT’s Ethics Committee said though information was an integral part of democracy and good governance, the government should not block or limit access to crucial information which it does not want the public to know.
He said there are a number of reasons for the government to limit the access of information, and one of them was limiting the public from knowing their rights, so that they would not demand them and the authorities desire to sustain bureaucracy which is a hindrance to good governance.
Another one is to give positive impression of the government and its organs to hoodwink the public on the actual conditions obtained in the country. Faulting the projection of false impression by the authorities, Justice Mihayo said the best way for any government to be close to the public is transparency.
On the media he said, there are also a number of problems on how they operate and inform the public. Apart from some owners influencing editorial content and interfering in day to day operations, there are some media practitioners who censor themselves and thus withholding crucial information, he said.
Another problem is the influence of business and political interests, which he said deny the public crucial information and sometimes feed them with fabricated and cooked reports. It was generally agreed in the deliberations that it was imperative that the%

Tanzania: Right to Know Day (28 September) Improves Media Reportage

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