This article written by Joseph Asunka and Carolyn Logan is published by The Washington Post. Here is an excerpt:

Although access to information laws offer at least some protection for people’s right to information in about half of African countries, the pandemic has highlighted how weak these protections still are in practice.

In addition to limiting access to information, governments have harassed and arrested activists and journalists for releasing statistics or other information on covid-19 in Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria and elsewhere on the continent.

Many African countries — including leading democracies such as Botswana and Namibia — still lack laws protecting access to information. And where laws do exist, they vary widely in quality, implementation and enforcement.

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