OPC, Medical Stores contravenes Access to Information Laws

The Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) and the Central Medical Stores Trust, have become the first public institutions to be reported to the Malawi Human Rights Commission  (MHRC) over alleged violation of the Access to Information Law.

The two institutions are being accused of refusing to release information to two citizens, who separately logged complaints, one in December last year and the other this year.

Chairperson for the Access to Information Committee at MHRC, Commissioner Baldwin Chiyamwaka, says a determination on the complaint by Dennis Mwafulirwa, to do with alleged denial by the Central Medical Stores Trust, to provide information about contracts on the procurement of drugs, will be released tomorrow.

The MHRC Commissioner, further said a complaint to do with the OPC, was referred back to the defendant, after observing that, the other complainant, had not exhausted internal remedies, at the OPC.

According to Commissioner Chiyamwaka, the complaint was about the alleged refusal by OPC to release information to the citizen, to do with a report on the Public Sector Reforms, which Vice President Dr. Saulos Chilima, presented to President Lazarus Chakwera.