AFIC welcomes new Members
Africa Freedom of Information Centre’s membership has grown from 27 to 34 following the approval of seven applicants by the Governing Council sitting on July 25, 2014 in Nairobi Kenya. The Governing Council considered eleven applications out which approved seven, requested the Secretariat to obtain additional information from three applicants and rejected one application.
This set of applications represented the largest and most diverse number of applications considered by the Governing Council in one sitting. Applicants included organisatiosn whose core business is gender, human rights, HIV/AIDS, anticorruption and media rights. In addition, applicants came from the different regions of Africa, including North Africa, Eastern Africa and Central Africa. New members who were approved at the Nairobi meeting include Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (Egypt), AIDSPAN (Kenya), Human Rights Network for Journalists (Uganda), CADES (Guinée), Transparency International Uganda (Uganda) as well as Forum International des Femmes de l’Espace Francophone and Collectif 24 (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Commenting on the new development, Mr. Henry Maina, Chairperson of AFIC Governing Council observed that lack of appreciation of applications from sectorial organizations had for long frustrated the growth of the right to information in Africa. He added that new members with this diverse focus provide an important opportunity to mainstream access to information in various aspects of issues that ordinary people care about.
On his part Prof. Colin Darch, another member of the Governing Council noted recruiting membership from North Africa has taken long. With members in Morocco and Egypt AFIC will work towards complementing democracy that the region is beginning to experience after the Arab spring.
The General Assembly sitting in Johannesburg from January 28-29, 2014 adopted a Membership Policy whose implementation framework has been consolidated by the adoption by the Governing Council sitting in Nairobi in July of Council Subcommittee on Governance and Membership as well as the Finance and Audit Committee.
AFIC would like to welcome new members to its growing family.
No Comments