Namibia
What's New
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13 November 2014
Namibia Imprisoned in a Secrecy System
By Natasha H. Tibinyane The author is National Director of MISA Namibia. This is a chapter in a recently issued State of Right to Information in Africa Report 2014 and is reprinted with permission. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.) The Government of Namibia is a State Party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and has also ratified the African […]
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2 October 2014
Africa’s Progress on RTI Assessed in Two Reports
Two key groups advocating for right to information laws in Africa have issued detailed reports, both calling for intensified efforts to continue progress and taking a close look at national situations. The Africa Freedom of Information Centre Sept. 29 launched its first State of the Right to Information in Africa Report. The report is on […]
freedom of information
Text from 2011 World Bank review:
Namibia currently has no legal freedom of information framework.
Its Constitution provides the country’s general legal framework for other fundamental freedoms and delineates certain restrictions thereto, like national security and public order, but it does not reference FOI rights.
Further, other laws seem only to substantially limit the free public’s access to information. First, the Protection of Information Act of 1982, forbids disclosure of state secrets, information implicating national security, and any information obtained by virtue of government employment. Incidentally, this 1982 Act was enacted by South Africa and remains on the books in Namibia but has never been used by the Namibian authorities. Other provisions limiting access to government information concern Namibia’s national defense and criminal proceedings.