Formulation of national information policies in Africa: Some unlearnt lessons

Formulation of National Information Policies in Africa: Some Unlearnt Lessons K. J. MCHOMBU*

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MIT17

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the process of formulating national information policies, which has been underway in a number of eastern and southern African countries for at least the past 5 years. Since most of these efforts have been inspired and influenced by UNESCO, a secondary aim of this paper is to address the shortcomings contained in the UNESCO guidelines for working out a national information policy in developing countries. In particular, an attempt is made to establish whether the guidelines provide an adequate definition ofinformation and if fundamental issues concerning information and informatics in developing countries are given sufficient weight. The paper focuses mainly on three country case studies, the major criteria for selection being that they have sufficient recent literature on national information policy formulation to make such a study possible. The process of national policy formulation that each country has followed is briefly reviewed and its failure to operationalize the main policy recommendations analysed. The countries which feature most prominently in the case studies are Botswana, Zambia and Tanzania. It is our contention that only a good understanding of Africa’s information scene and how it has developed over time can lead to a realistic policy. We further argue that no single policy can cover the wide information sector, and that what is needed is a series of co-ordinated policies. However, two fundamental decisions have to be made: first, on the citizens’ right to information and government’s commitment to respect this right and to provide information to the public, and second, on the right of each individual to have access to a basic minimum level of information to enable them to satisfy their basic human needs and participate adequately in the national development process. This is only possible when all African governments become fully accountable * Kingo J. Mchombu is a Lecturer in the Department of Library and University of Botswana. t Dr Katabaro Miti is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Studies, JJniversity of Botswana. 1037-2317/92/020139+33

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to their citizens and when the latter are aware oftheir rights, and have mechanisms by which they can pin down governments to implement fully their declared policies. ‘This paper argues that hefore any new natinnai information policies are proposed the process must take into account the existing policies and lacunas in the diverse information sector. More specifically we argue that all those areas which are active in all stages of the information transfer chain, from production to handling and processing, to the ultimate user target-groups and the information technology necessary to create and exchange this information should be catered for in the proposed information policies. We shall now proceed to look at why African countries require national information policies.

THE

NEED

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Librarians, archivists and documentalists in Africa have been calling upon their governments to come up with a national information policy for the past 10 years. The reasons behind their generalized call are succinctly reiterated in a recent IDRC report titled “Sharing knowledge for development: IDRC’s information strategy for Africa ( 1989)“.25 The report notes among other things that: (1) It has become the practice for governments to allocate resources on the basis of principles and directions laid down by policies. Policies are therefore tantamount to declarations by governments of their intent to take development action. (2) There is a need to have policies which establish governance over information activities, in particular regulatory policies are required for co-ordination, networking and resource sharing, of information products, information exchange, importation standardization, creation and maintenance of information centres, data bases, data banks and statistical/numerical information systems. (3) Policies improve the chances for locating accountability, defining institutional responsibilities and spearheading change. (4) An information policy can energize and open up the informatics sector by laying guidelines for the application of information technologies, computers, telecommunications, including the local manufacturing of information products. (5) There is a need to co-ordinate donor support and this can only be done if the government shows its willingness to create supportive conditions for the development of the information and informatics sector.

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(6) Without policies, governments cannot hope to grated approach to information provision, or ordination among existing information agencies t~r:~a:::::i

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stimulate an irrteto motivate coand the effective

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From the reasons being advanced one can deduct a number of things. First there is a general feeling that the information sector (understood as libraries, archives and documentation centres) is receiving inadequate resources from the government to perform their task adequately. The only way to obtain more resources is by forcing the government to make the information sector one ofits development priorities and to recognize the importance of the information sector in national development. Related to this is the hope that with renewed government support for the sector it will be possible to modernize the sector through the acquisition of information technologies. That there is a definite economic motive behind calls for national information policies is also supported by Chartland, as quoted by Rath and Clement (1988),’ who points out that: “increasingly information is viewed as a powerful resource, and as a commodity to be collected, protected, manipulated, and traded. Information policies (can be) regarded as societal and institutional decisions concerning the allocation of resources to the acquisition, processing, distribution, and use of information. . .”

Although Chartland’s concept of information represents current thinking in the First World, it is also quite relevant to what must happen in Third World countries in the near future. There also appears to be an uneasiness about the lack of co-operation between the growth of institutions dealing with information within a country. There is a call for a national co-ordinating body for the sector as a whole. It is hoped that it is the existence of such a body may attract resources to the sector and encourage co-operation between existing bodies. It is important to note here that a number of policies already exist that are pertinent to the information sector. Most of the institutions dealing with information in African countries, e.g. National Libraries, Archives, Scientific Research Institutes, have been established by Acts of parliament and assigned specific functions and operational guidelines. Often there are also policies with regard to publishing, secrecy, information technology etc. Given this fact, the starting point should be to examine and evaluate these policies and their actual implementation to see how these could be co-ordinated. The call for a new national information policy ignores the existing policies and this has contributed to inaction and confusion in the area. In addition, the way the issue of information has been presented, under the influence of the UNESCO guidelines limits the scope of

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information considerably. It ignores the fact that in most African countries there are ministries or departments of information signifying government interest in information but with a particular bias whereby information is seen as a “source of power” and not as a tool for development; hence, the restrictions on information and the paranoid secrecy with respect to government generated information. It is only when this is understood that one can realistically appreciate the problems of working out “a national information policy”. We shall return to the above issues in later sections of the paper. For now we turn our attention to the UNESCO guidelines on how to establish a national information policy.

UNESCO

GUIDELINES

ON NATIONAL POLICY

INFORMATION

The efforts of UNESCO to assist developing countries to improve their information management capability culminated in UNESCO sending advisers, holding seminars and workshops and ultimately issuing special guidelines on the formulation of a national information policy in developing countries. The guidelines were to act as reference tools for action by “information specialists as well as administrators and planners from various fields” who are responsible for the formulation and implementation of a national information policy.’ The basic proposal in the guidelines is for the creation of a national information co-ordinating organization whose function would be “to initiate the formulation of policy, to prepare plans for the operational activities involved in the execution of these plans”.’ As noted above, the call for a co-ordinating body is first a recognition of the existence of various bodies and institutions dealing with information and also the weak information infrastructure in Africa. A number of these institutions and bodies have been created by statutory Acts of parliament e.g. National Library Services, Science and Technology Centres, National Archives, Statistical Bureaus etc. and are charged with specific national functions. Other information bodies have emerged under the umbrella of other statutory bodies as is the case with libraries in academic institutions, research centres, industries etc. and which were meant to serve specific categories of users. The creation of a supranational body to co-ordinate and monitor the activities of all the information related bodies is a gigantic task and it is questionable whether the creation of another bureaucratic layer is necessarily the best solution particularly in the context of countries which are starved of capable high level manpower. It is one thing to talk of establishing linkages and

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co-operation between the various bodies and another to talk ofcreatiqy a new body to enforce the linkages and co-operation. There exist two problems with the creation of such a body. First, is the problem of the present financial constraints facing most African governments. The idea of creating a new national body, with the financial implications that this entails is not likely to be well received by governments. This seems to have been the fate which overtook grandiose plans in Tanzania to create a National Book Council in the form of a fully fledged parastatal organization whose administrative running costs would have swallowed up everything the government was prepared to contribute to book production in the country. The second problem is the tendency, in African countries, for each body or institution to guard its autonomy jealously and ward off any interference with its current activities. This is likely to result in a very weak body with very little power over the existing institutions. We shall return to this point later when we examine the various attempts at implementing the guidelines. The point to be stressed here is whether there is a need for a totally new body to bring about some co-ordination and co-operation. Could the existing institutions draw up a formal instrument of co-operation to co-ordinate and share their resources, if resource sharing is “the real objective”? Apart from this central body the document calls for the creation of a national data base of statistics, an inventory of current research, records of domestic publications, information dissemination services, referral services etc. The report further advises that such information should be accessible to users through a network of “archives, libraries, documentation and information centres”. This network should above all ensure that national and “core” foreign sources of information are held at appropriate and easily accessible locations, that there exist effective lending and photocopying facilities, electronic mail etc. Underpinning the above is the call for the expansion of the existing infrastructure of “Library and Information Centres” and the modernization of the same in line with new information technology. However, to date libraries and information centres have catered for a very insignificant percentage of Africa’s population.3-5 As such they have remained marginal to the national development process that they purport to serve. This is partly because they have been divorced from other information agencies (extension officers, adult education teachers, journalists, publishers, etc.) and other information bodies (mass media) and partly because their information has not proved relevant (and usable) to the immediate needs of a greater part of the population.‘j The UNESCO guidelines are of little help in this problem since they mistakenly regard “advisory services, information services in the

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field and the mass media to be of borderline interest.’ though not specifically the guidelines, information,

defined, is confined to what is offered by libraries, archives, documentation and translation centres, i.e. what is recorded or published (in books?). This is a very parochial and restrictive definition of information and results in the exclusion or marginalization of significant players in the information provision stage in developing countries. The information sector is both vast and complex, and includes a wide range of libraries, archives and documentation centres, publishing and printing houses, bookshops, the mass media, extension agencies, adult education and formal education agencies, computer bureaus, satellite communication, traditional institutions, broadcasting services and a wide range of non-governmental services, consumer information services and (most important of all) information users. Apart from this plethora of institutions, there are also numerous issues which will play an influential part in the creation of national information policies. These issues include, the urban-rural divide in information provision, low production of published information, control and manipulation of information to sustain the ruling class, censorship, harassment of writers and the emerging issues of privacy, computer fraud, software piracy, access to government information by citizens and the private sector, transborder data flow, and consumer information services amongst others. In addition to the issues touched on above, a set of policies governing the information sector should be dovetailed to three other government policies, namely the science and technology policies, the education policy and the economic production policies of a country. The three government policies indicated here, can be regarded as the primary policies on which realistic national information policies can be created as secondary (or supportive) policies. In a sense, the primary policies provide a guide of what the future trends and priorities of the country are going to be, and hence can be used to determine the role and function of information in a particular society, at a given time (Parker, 1970).27 Information, in isolation, can hardly be used to speed up the development of a country, but when its “value adding features” are incorporated into other aspects of production that is when it has a remarkable effect. That is the main reason why national information policies have to be “grafted” onto other implicit or explicit government policies. According to Parker (1970),*’ how (African) governments answer the economic questions concerning the production, distribution and the technological infrastructure for information provision is crucial in creating the policies that will lead to the proper allocation of resources, and the development of the information sector.

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the breadth

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and complexity there

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can be a single

the

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capable of tackling all the diverse elements and issues. It is argued here that to do so is to arbitrarily shrink the information industry by eliminating most of the players, and severely limiting room for future growth of new information management institutions and strategies. This is one of the major limitations of the UNESCO guidelines. It is interesting that at least in one Third World country, Malaysia, the library profession appears to have adopted this limited interpretation of information in formulating a national information policy. They regard “a policy as a plan of action”. Such a definition differs from that adopted in this paper: we hold the view that a policy is totally different from a plan of action and system design. In his defence of the Malaysian approach, Mohamed argues that when formulating national information policies, information should not be broadly defined “ . . . in an all encompassing manner to cover not only libraries and documentation centres but a whole range of specialists involved in the process of generating and communicating information.. . This may make the policy making process not only unwieldy but also impinge outside its competence. Hence it may be more practical, at least at the initial stages, to limit the scope of ‘information policy’ to cover information resources directly within functions of libraries, documentation and information centres . . .“’

Elsewhere in this paper, we have stated our opposition to limiting national information policies to documentation/library based information services in societies where most of the information products in use are non-library based and interpersonal in nature, and we shall not repeat them here. However, the Malaysian approach offers an interesting, if somewhat parochial experience to African countries. Also to be noted is the fact that there already exists a number of policies (explicit and implicit) that guide the information sector. Therefore, a national information policy or policies cannot be formulated on the belief that one is tilling virgin land. One would have to build on the existing policies and only formulate new policies, where and when a particular aspect of information provision is not already covered. The UNESCO guidelines further assume that information is the same as knowledge and can be utilized directly for national development purposes, so that the more information you have, the better. However, information by itself is not necessarily knowledge and should not be confused with usable knowledge needed for problem solving purposes. The need for information to be analysed and tailored to the needs of the user, i.e. converting information to knowledge, is one which deserves recognition, particularly in Africa. It should further be noted that

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information is both content and process.’ Content deals with the subject matter of information-what information or informative on what? The process dimension deals with the creation, storage, processing and communication or distribution of information. The guidelines only touch on the question of process and even then not in its entirety and ignores completely the issue of content. It ignores completely the issues of userneeds of information and issues of production of information products. It is evident that the guidelines are based on societies with a highly literate population, engaged in scientific and technological activities where there is already an adequate supply (or oversupply) of information resources. The main concern then becomes the accessibility and use of existing information and hence the call for a consumption orientated information policy model. The information scene in Africa, however, is characterized by an overall shortage of information resources and knowledge and information dependency on Europe and North America. The balance between the demand and supply situation of information resources in Africa is contrary to this model because of low domestic supply which falls far short of existing demand. It is argued here that Africa has a greater need for information policies which address squarely the issues of inadequate production of information resources and information technology in order to lessen continued external dependency, i.e., the present need in Africa is for a “production orientated model” rather than a “consumption orientated model”. The final weaknesses to be noted about the UNESCO guidelines are the proposals on how the information policy should be made, i.e. the policy making process. The guidelines seem to view national policy making in naive terms as a technocratic-bureaucratic process which is carried out by information specialists provided they obtain, at the final stage, the endorsement of the responsible legislative body. However, in the African context the role of information professionals while important, will not be decisive in the public policy making process. They can certainly initiate the process and provide technical expertise when required, but in the final analysis it will be the politicians who will determine the final product. The perception by politicians of the role that information can play in the process of national development is more crucial than the perception of information professionals. An additional factor which explains the centrality of politicians in public policy making is the need to work out the financial implications for implementing the policy and the need to ensure that the implications of the policy are in harmony with other national policies and interests. The crucial issue therefore is how to influence and interest them in the affairs of the diverse information sector. They already have a keen interest in information as noted above, but from a different perspective-the power

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perspective. It is this that has influenced many of the current policies on information. The marketing of the need for national information policies to the political authorities is therefore an important step in the procedures of policy making which needs no further stressing. We have tried to highlight the salient elements of the UNESCO guidelines and the problems and shortcomings of these guidelines. In the next section we look at attempts to apply these guidelines in a number of African countries.

WORKING

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UNESCO

GUIDELINES

The guidelines as noted above gave the task of formulating a National Information Policy to the information professionals. These professionals have, during the past 10 years or so, been working hard to achieve the said policy. Here we highlight the efforts of these professionals in Botswana, Zambia and Tanzania. There are certain common elements in the efforts of these countries which need highlighting before coming to the particulars of each case. The first step for all the countries was to call for a workshop/seminar of information “specialists” to work out the parameters and reach some agreement as to contents of the policy. In Botswana a workshop on the Establishment and Management of a National Information Service in Botswana was organized by the Botswana National Library Service (BNLS) together with the German Foundation for International Development (DSE) in co-operation with the Botswana Library Association, University of Botswana, Dept. of Library Studies and University Library in February 1987.’ Zambia had its first seminar in September 1985, under the theme, “The need for development orientated national information policy in Zambia within the context of the Southern African Documentation and Information System (SADIS)“.” In Tanzania a workshop on “Establishment of a National Information and Documentation Network in Tanzania” was organized by the University of Dar es Salaam Library, Tanzania Library Services Board, Tanzania Library Assocation and the National Archives of Tanzania with some assistance from DSE and IDRC.” All these workshops had one thing in common, which can be glimpsed from the list of papers presented at the seminar: they focused on the role information plays in the various economic sectors as perceived by information providers rather than consumers of information services and products. The second similarity which was more or less the outcome of the seminars was the formation of a working party/drafting committee of prominent members of the information profession (the major stake

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holders) to formulate a document for the establishment of a national information policy. In the case of Tanzania, the Workshop organizing committee was mandated to extend its tenure of office and assume the new role of a planning committee which would ensure that the main workshop objective was implemented, namely the creation ofa National Information and Documentation Network Council. The outcome for Botswana was a proposal for the formation of a National Co-ordination Council for Information. Zambia came up with a proposal for a “National Information Policy”. We shall now look in more detail at these proposals.

Botswana: A Report for Co-ordinating Information Services in Botswana26 The basic proposal by the Drafting Committee in Botswana was the formation of the National Co-ordinating Council for Information (NCCI). The C ouncil has four main aims: (1) To create a national information system by bringing together various agencies-public, parastatal and private, and by establishing institutional links; (2) To co-ordinate the activities of these information agencies for the effective administration of the national system once it has come into being; (3) To formulate, with the approval of the relevant government body, a national information policy; and (4) To execute such a policy, after it has been formulated (p. 2). The council’s main function however appears to be mainly advisory. Its role is to make recommendations to three distinct agencies and groups: (i) various governmental authorities, the principal of which will be the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, where the council will be based; (ii) the component units of the information industry; (iii) different user groups. The advice will be on matters related to (i) the establishment of norms and standards of collecting, classifying, cataloguing, storing, retrieval and distribution of information; (ii) the prioritization of national information requirements and how these could be realized by the information industry; (iii) an assessment of the existing networks within the information industry, if any, and (iv) offering suggestions regarding measures to strengthen the system of networks. The council would have at the top a Consultative Board, comprising representatives of a large number of agencies active in the information industry. The Board would play an advisory role to the Executive Committee, which is expected to carry out the day to day administration. This Executive Committee is to be composed of rep-

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resentatives of the main country namely: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10)

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The Botswana National Library Service, The National Archives, The Central Statistical Office, The University of Botswana Library, The National Institute of Development Research and Documentation, The Department of Library Studies, The University of Botswana, The National Research Council (when it comes into being), The Geological Survey Department, The Government Printer, Department of Information and Broadcasting.

It was envisaged that the number of members of the Executive Committee would be increased with the emergence of new agencies in the information sector. Below the Executive Committee would be a small secretariat initially comprising four people: the project manager, administrative support staff, secretary and messenger. What the above proposal boils down to is the creation of a consultative organ of the major agencies and groups dealing with library and information services in the country that would deliberate on how to improve their work and co-ordinate their efforts and that would jointly lobby for resources from the government. The specific goal for of library and the council is clear: “to concentrate on the improvement information services i.e. on storage and dissemination of knowledge”. From this perspective, the national information policy would be largely limited to the library and information services.

Zambia: National Information Policy Proposal The Zambian proposal puts the task of formulating a national information policy or policies at the feet of the Party and government. It first seeks to highlight the areas, issues and problems that the party and government must address itself to in the formulation of the policywhat it calls the general policy aims. Then it addresses areas that need specific policy statements and suggests strategies for implementation of the specific policies. The general policy aims are seen as: (1) the need to infrastructure;

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(2) the need to institutionalize and co-ordinate varinllq ininrmatwn services; (3) the need for a legislative machinery to provide for and promntc the development of co-ordinated infnrmatinn srrvices. (4j the need ibr hnanciai and material support at both Incal anri national levei; (5) the need for a planned information manpower development; (6) the need to facilitate access to information by all members of the Zambian society; (7) the need to promote optimum utilization of information in all sectors of national development; (8) the need to ensure that information services are given resource priority in national development and (9) the need to reduce the existing imbalance with regard to information generation, storage and distribution between rural and urban Zambia and between Zambia and the developed world. Having stated the general policy aims, the proposal calls for specific policies with regard to each particular area. These areas are: information generation, with the specific goal of promoting local publishing capacity; (ii) information collection, processing, storage, distribution and retrieval through the efficient provision of information extension services; (iii) information manpower development through increased training and proper remuneration; by creating and expanding information (iv) access to information agencies and by developing information networks and resource sharing programmes; by streamlining government infor(VI effective use of information mation supply; information technology, including the turning of the Post (4 and Telecommunications corporation into a national communication centre and incorporating the computer society of Zambia.

(9

The final part of the proposal calls for the creation of a Zambia Advisory Council on Library and Information Resources. To give weight to this council the suggested chairman is a member of the Party central committee heading the social and cultural sub-committee. Also to be included in this council is a representative of the National Assembly and representatives from Post and Telecommunication Corporation, Booksellers and Publishers Association, Computer Society,

Tanzania: Establishment in Tanzania

of a National

Information

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Network

The Tanzanian case study is based on a seminar which was held in 1989 with the broad aim of discussing the establishment of a national information and documentation network in Tanzania. The specific aims of the network were expresseed as: (1) to make information and documentation services efficient, and ensure that they are well balanced; (2) to satisfy better the needs of planners, decision-makers, scientists, researchers and other users of information and (3) to avoid unnecessary duplication and provide information about supplementary resources. Although the outward objective followed in Tanzania, was not to formulate a national information policy, as in Zambia, there was a perception by participants that the two are closely interlinked and there cannot be successful networking without an enabling policy. This point comes out clearly in two of the key papers presented by Kaungamno (Director of Tanzania Library Service) and Mascrenhas (Chief Librarian, University of Dar es Salaam). Kaungamno (1989) ” views the national information policy as necessary for the implementation of the network concept (p. 13). Mascarenhas ( 1989))” on the other hand, displays a greater awareness of the wider information environment in which libraries, documentation centres and archives operate. She decries the responsibility overlaps among information provision institutions in Tanzania and considers that (p. 164), ‘I. . the main problem over all this confusion of responsibilities and duplication was the lack of a NIP specialization and

and coordinating agency coordination, and given

that was fully empowered to delineate the necessary resources to do its task. . .”

So the use of Tanzania is identical to the Botswana case in that both of them, while not addressing immediately the issues of formulating a national information policy, they in actual fact, regarded the seminar as a stepping stone towards tackling the main issue of formulating a nation,?1 information policy.

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The key recommendation to come out of the Tanzania seminar was for the formation of a National Information and Documentation Network Council which would have the following set-up: (1) an advisory council made up of representatives institutions and user groups and (2) a small secretariat with clearly dejined powers.

of all information

The parent ministry (to be) of the council appears not to have been resolved by the seminar with some suggesting the Prime Minister’s Office while others favoured the Ministry of Finance and Planning. Also not fully resolved were the functions of the proposed council. However, there was some agreement that these would include: (i) co-ordinating libraries, archives and documentation centres, and (ii) formulating policies and standards for the development oflibraries, archives and documentation centres in the country. Although the seminar did not propose any name for the chairperson of the council, it was stated that the holder of the office should be a prominent public person who is a non-librarian, non-archivist and nondocumentalist. The question of how the council is to be composed is also not fully clarified other than the principle that it should be a representative body of existing libraries, archives and documentation centres. Lessonsfrom Botswana, Zambia and Tanzania The main emphasis of the UNESCO guidelines was on the creation of a national information co-ordinating organization whose job would be to initiate the formulation of policy, to prepare plans for the implementation and to co-ordinate and monitor operational activities involved in the execution of the plans. The proposals that have emerged from Botswana, Zambia and Tanzania are for the formation of national consultative and advisory councils mostly constituted by the heads of the existing organs and groups dealing with information with neither the resources nor the manpower to carry out the expected duties. The Botswana Council has a one man secretariat while for Zambia the secretariat duties are just assigned to the University of Zambia, and in Tanzania the emphasis is for “a small secretariat”. In this set-up cooperation and linkages will largely depend on a gentleman’s (or gentlewoman’s) agreement between the heads of the various autonomous agencies and groups. How these councils are going to operate in practice remains to be seen but their impact is likely to be limited partly because of the point raised earlier with regard to the tendency for each agency or group to guard its autonomy. The Tanzanian case specifically calls

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for a secretariat “with clearly defined powers” and it is not difficult to see that the words “clearly defined” here mean “limited”. The financial implications are totally ignored in the Zambian and Tanzanian case while for Botswana they are limited to office furniture and salaries for the project manager, administrative officer, secretary and messenger. The costs for the envisaged studies, publications and data base are completely ignored. It is expected that each agency or group will have to work within its existing budgets. In terms of defining information, Botswana and Tanzania have remained true to the limited view of information provided by the UNESCO guidelines. Furthermore, it appears that the formulators were of the view that the existing agencies, as presently constituted, and the existing policies and plans cover all the information needs of the country. What is thus needed is some co-ordination and improvement of the same, in other words retain the status quo. The two cases thus provide the best example of a consumption orientated model of a national information policy. Zambia has taken a broader perspective of information and a more change-orientated stance. They thus call for additional specific policies to address the various aspects of information needs currently not being fully met. They also call for the re-examination of the existing information set-up, including the agencies and groups dealing with information. They are aware that this can only be done by the Party and the government: information specialists cannot make policies. Their strategy has been to draw in the Party by allocating the chairmanship of the national advisory council on library and information services to a member of the Party central committee and drawing in the Director of the Party research bureau and a member of the National Assembly into the council in the hope that these would play a key role in pushing upwards whatever suggestions come from the information specialists. In contrast, in the Tanzanian case, where the political set-up is very close to the Zambian one, the Party which is the supreme policy maker was forgotten and only the government officials were involved largely in a ceremonial capacity. The Tanzanian strategy is largely based on the assumption that policy making is a preserve of the information professionals with the final approval of the government. This assumption is contrary to the policy making process in Tanzania-CCM, the sole ruling party, is the principal policy maker (with a less than impressive implementation record, one may add!), occasionally delegating its policymaking functions to the country’s legislature, as and when it chooses. The differences in approach between Botswana and Zambia stem from the different political set-ups and policy making process. In Botswana,\the bureaucrats and technocrats play a major role in the policy

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process whereas in Zambia their role is limited, because politicians take precedence in the policy making process. Thus the approach suggested by the UNESCO guidelines on how to work out an information policy is likely to work in a Botswana type situation, which is an exception in Africa and not in the Zambian or Tanzanian situation which are more relevant to the African context. A characteristic shared by all the policy making situations discussed here is that the main tool for collecting evidence to shape policy recommendations is through seminar papers presented by individuals who operate the different libraries, and archival collections. While not denying that this method can yield some useful insights into the problems which these institutions face, we must also face the reality that such evidence is unlikely to dig deep enough to uncover any fundamental weaknesses of such institutions. It is not surprising, therefore, that most of the papers presented in the seminars of the three cases analysed here have been from the perspective of those who operate the information systems and there was no real attempt to offset this deficiency by conducting a thorough and critical evaluation as to who had actually benefited, and who had not benefited from the activities of these information institutions. Evidence of what has been achieved is often given in an ambiguous way so that it fails to convey a true picture of the progress made. Many of the papers are replete with figures purporting to show how a public library system in country X has built district libraries in 15 out of 35 districts. But such figures only raise more questions, e.g. What were the criteria for choosing those 15 districts? Who uses these libraries? What are they used for? Who doesn’t use these libraries and why? What proportion of ail the potential users actually benefit from these libraries? etc. Often one comes across figures of collections given as a measure of progress, e.g. Library A has a collection of 500 000, the largest in the country; but what if most of these are irrelevant? What proportion of this collection is in continuous use? What proportion is never used at all? It is vital to go beyond the minutiae of what is being done and what has been achieved. Why is it that people in rural areas are asked to contribute if they want to have a village library but those in urban areas are not? Questions such as these which focus on who gains, who loses, why is this so, who has been favoured in the expenditure of resources, etc. are central questions in policy analysis which must always precede the formulation or improvement of existing policies.13 Only when a proper policy analysis exercise of previous policies has been carried out can we hope to benefit fully from past experience and avoid the mistakes of the past, otherwise we shall have the mistakes of the past reproduced in supposedly new or revised policies.

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With the above lessons from Zambia, Tanzania and Botswana we can now address the whole question of working out a national information policy or a set of policies to stimulate the growth of the information sector in Africa. In doing this we shall pay special attention to three mAin issues: information about what, information for whom and the process of delivering information, i.e. how.

NATIONAL

INFORMATION FOR WHOM

POLICIES: ABOUT AND How?

WHAT,

As we have endeavoured to show, the information sector is so broad and extensive that no single policy can incorporate all the various aspects. One should therefore expect a series of inter-related policies to guide the sector as a whole. Commenting on this diversity, Mantern ( 1983)14 argues that “ . . . it

has become customary to talk about information use the plural form would be more correct. Information to all situations in which collection, processing and/or takes place. It is a collective concept. . .”

policy in the singular.. . to policy relates in principle distribution of information

This is a point which we endorse and have tried to highlight in several parts of this paper. In order to achieve realistic suggestions about the required policies, it is important to understand how the information sector has taken shape in Sub-Saharan Africa. We shall take Tanzania as a case study in order to highlight the emergence and development of the information subsector in Sub-Saharan Africa. At independence the new government’s concern with the information sector was with the mass media, in particular, Radio and Newspapers. It was assumed, and rightly so, that the mass media influence public opinion. The governments thus sought to ensure that mass media did not influence the public negatively towards itself. To achieve this, in most cases, government took control of the existing radio stations and the major newspapers. In addition it passed stringent laws to control the content of newspapers and other publications. In Tanzania the most important aspects of these laws was that which is euphemistically termed “offenses against the nation”. Under this law the importation, publication or sale of any publication considered contrary to the “public interest” is prohibited. It is also under this section that we encounter the “seditious intention” clauses. Under Tanzanian law a “seditious intention” is an intention to

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Through the “seditious intentions” clause the government and sole political party effectively prohibits criticism of both its actions or inactions. There is almost everywhere in Africa this fear of criticism in the incumbent governments. Accompanying this fear is an unnecessary secrecy surrounding government activities. Citizens are thus often denied the right to know what the government is doing or intending to do “on their behalf”. A citizen’s right to information is thus curtailed and almost everything in government offices is classified confidential and secret. This has a spill over effect in the overall organization of government information systems (which in Africa produce most of the published information products) and the information sector at large. The public is denied the most simple and necessary information. Thus governments have gone to the extent of denying the existence of famine until large numbers have died, denying the existence of AIDS until it became pandemic, and denying acts of corruption and maladministration until it has become a chronic cancer. The list of government misinformation to the public can be extended on and on. It is difficult to envisage an information policy in a situation where governments are bent on secrecy and the misinformation of the public. Unless this attitude and practice changes the spread of information will be stifled. A second area to attract government attention in the information sector was the compilation of government statistics. The new governments found out that they knew very little about the country they were to govern. Some rudimentary attempts were made to start gathering data about the country. The first focus of these earliest efforts were the population censuses. The small statistics departments normally attached to the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning were initially concerned with census analysis, but they had inadequate personnel or instruments to carry out the collection ofdata on the country’s

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in the IYbUS yulgnanliy illlcci ~iu/~/~r?~,~ WzlllouL ifacl\ I)\ 01::~ .fi!ijllX: (1966)/j an economist, who pointed out that because of’very inadequte information for planning, Africa’s development was being attempted blindfold. Unfortunately, this aspirational type ofplanning and decision making remains the hallmark of the government working system in Africa, despite the increasing availability of data on national economic life. The importance of statistical information is no longer in doubt as many observers have noted. Abate ( 1987),17 for example, writes thus: “today formation

statistical data are perhaps the irrespective of their deficiencies

best organised and (lack of)

sector of development timeliness.”

in-

A number of factors need to be noted here. Firstly the number of agencies and groups dealing with the gathering and compilation ofdata in the country has grown tremendously over time. Apart from the statistical departments in the ministries of finance and development planning, other ministries have started to compile data relevant to their ministries, e.g. on agriculture, health, education, industry and commerce, etc. Apart from these, we have the Central Banks and Commercial Banks keeping tabs on the national economy, we have the trade bureaus and institutions all competing to compile national data. But despite this growth in data collection a lot of it remains unused in national decision making processes for a number of reasons. Firstly, African politicians have an aversion to figures, something which has to do with the politicians’ backgrounds. They do not know what to do with those figures. This leads us to the second reason, that is, the jumble of available data is not always presented in a manner intelligible to busy decision makers. For the most part it remains raw garbled data. Thirdly, this data is scattered in different places that are not interlinked with one another and only a few users know who has data about what. The above scenario highlights one crucial policy gap, namely, the need for a co-ordinated and systematic organization of a national statistical information base on an ongoing basis, the linkage of the various data sub-systems and the analysis and presentation of these data systems for use by the national decision makers. This is surely an area that needs immediate government attention. A major problem may lie in the fact that the push for statistical information does not come from the government itself but from external aid agencies and the private sector. However, the major players in the statistical information system tin so far as it exists) are the aid donors, the IMF and the World

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Bank, the international investors that are behind the extensive data collection exercise going on in most countries in Africa. The same external agencies are also behind the push for the acquisition of new information technologies for data handling, i.e. computers and related technologies. It thus comes as no surprise that most of the existing statistical systems and information technologies are an external imposition that continue to operate because of external support. This situation can be illustrated by the Tanzanian case, which while reflecting the erratic decision-making process of a one party state, where decisions, however faulty, are seldom challenged, also betrays an underlying computer phobia seldom seen in other parts of Africa. In 1974 the government issued an order which prohibited the importation of all electronic data processing equipment except with the permission of the Minister of Finance who subsequently formed a task force to study and formulate the logistics of how to phase out all computer installations in the country and replace them with manual/mechanical data processing systems. The information technologies were perceived by the government as unreliable, a mystique, and too sophisticated for the present needs of Tanzania. Fortunately, in the eighties, Tanzania’s external aid donors persuaded the government to accept the use of computers and other data processing devices. In 1978, for example, there were only five mainframe computers and seven mini computers in the country but by 1984 there were 13 mainframe, 15 mini and 79 micro computers. By 1986, the micro-computers had increased to 470 with 419 of them in government related institutions. A key factor in this rise was foreign assistance in particular from the World Bank, USAID, SIDA, West German Government, FAO, NORAD etc.18 Perhaps in the long term the most significant influencing factor is likely to be the changed attitude which has been introduced into Tanzania’s socio-economic thinking, including a new brand of government officials, some of whom are ardent laptop-computer users themselves. However the main thesis we are trying to highlight here is still valid, namely the fact that African governments have not been involved fully in the statistical systems evolving in their countries and have little control over the mushrooming information technologies in their countries. This is a very unfortunate situation that must be rectified urgently. A third area to attract government attention was the library and documentation sector. In a number of countries libraries pre-date independence. For example, in Zambia the first conventional library dates back to 1928 though it was limited, through subscription fees, to Europeans. In Zimbabwe, the library dates back to 1890, again with the use ofsubscription fees to curtail use of these libraries by Africans. Similarly, in Tanzania there are many libraries which date back to the 1920s.

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These pre-independence libraries mostly catered for whites and Asians and the existing libraries were mostly organized by voluntary bodiesi With independence and the clamour for education, libraries gained immediate strategic importance. The first to attract attention were schools and college libraries. Mostly with external grants, the ministries of education undertook the task of creating school libraries at secondary schools and teacher colleges. The main objective was to provide books relevant to the subjects being studied through the importation and acquisition of relevant texts. Until the current financial crisis began to set in, school and college libraries continued to obtain both government financial support and external grants. Present financial constraints have now limited the flow of government funds into these libraries. It was the same educational needs that led to the establishment of the so-called “academic libraries”. These were supposed to cater for the needs of students in institutions of higher learning, but as the educational systems grew and research became an important component of the academic institutions, these libraries were called upon to meet the research needs of the countries’ academicians and researchers. Most criticism levelled at the academic libraries boils down to two charges: (i) their inability to meet the researchers need for findings from the international community in various disciplines and frequently also failing to keep abreast of research activities and findings at the national level and (ii) their inability to process speedily the stock of new materials acquired to allow academicians to keep abreast with the latest thinking of their colleagues from all corners of the world. These are no mean tasks for these libraries, requiring not only extra funds from the government, but a more competent professional staff, the acquisition of new technologies and a high level of co-operation between these libraries and libraries elsewhere, and collaboration between the national research system and the “academic” information system. In fact, the current call for a national information policy, with its creation of a national data base, lending services, bibliographies etc., is directly tied to the needs and demands of national researchers and other professionals. This is a very small group, but an important and vocal one, and the governments are not very keen on the needs of this group. This includes their demand for better research facilities and funds. Research has not been accorded the importance it deserves in most African countries, partly due to the failure of researchers to harness convincingly their research programmes and agenda to the national development process. However, despite these limitations academic libraries continue to be the “best” organized libraries in most African countries. Closer to the academic libraries are the specialized libraries and documentation centres that cater for specific areas and needs. These

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include technical libraries, e.g. on technology, geology, mining, industry and commerce, agricultural sciences etc. These have to keep abreast of what is going on in the rest OF the world, in other words, they are expected to be up-to-date with the special information they offer. They need money to continue to acquire new materials, and personnel to keep abreast of what is going on elsewhere. To complement these educational and research efforts, public libraries were created and started their operations in the main urban centres where educational needs were being vociferously articulated. In criticizing the policy implementation record of public libraries, for example their failure to cater for the needs of the rural areas and farmers who constitute the majority of the population in African countries, or their failure to provide information for national economic development one should not forget the historical links between formal education and the public libraries. It is perhaps no coincidence that the main users of these libraries are young students in formal or non-formal educational systems and adults pursuing educational and professional certificates. A relatively new concern in the library field has been the need to cater for the emerging group of neo-literates graduating from the literacy campaigns. The campaign to sustain post literacy skills has led, in places such as Tanzania, to the emergence of village libraries under the department of adult education which are independent of the national public library system. It has also led to the establishment of rural newspapers specifically geared to the needs of the rural areas. The other concern in the library field is to cater for the needs of the rural communities for specific information. This has brought into existence the concept ofrural libraries and information services. The conventional libraries were designed with the existing print-based information system in an urban environment in mind. The rural areas need specific types of information; on health, agriculture, economics and commerce etc. However, the great majority of rural dwellers are illiterate or semiliterate, which limits the impact of conventional library systems based on published materials. Furthermore, it is argued that there is still a vast traditional knowledge system that needs to be tapped and made widely accessible to the public at large. Rural information needs thus require a change in the role of libraries and librarians as they are currently conceived. This is an area that needs special attention from the information specialists and the government at large. Another area of the information sector that has been of concern to governments is that of archives and records management. In most cases, the colonial governments had initiated archival collection organization prior to independence. Archives are primarily meant to preserve important government records and documents. The basic problem has been

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that of the selection of records and documents to be preserved. This process is made much more difficult by the very operation of the government information system, i.e. how governments’ records are organized in various ministries, departments and agencies. A uniform system of information recording greatly helps the archivist, but such uniformity has not always been present. The second major problem has been the preservation of these records and the categorization and classification of these records for easy reference and access. In anglophone Africa, archives have received very scanty attention since independence because, as Lekaukau (1987)” notes, they were surrounded, and still are surrounded to a certain extent, by an aura of secrecy. What is contained in the archives has often remained a secret only known to ardent scholars and researchers. Because of this, African countries have lost some of their important records, pa.rticularly those pertaining to the colonial era and records of the present governments have not always been systematically kept. This is an area that equally needs rectification. Having surveyed the various information sub-sectors that have attracted government attention and the main problems and issues associated with each we can now address the central question of information policies regarding what, for whom and how. Five major areas have emerged from the above review namely: (i) the citizen’s right to information; (ii) information for decision making; (iii) information for the transfer of technology; (iv) information to meet rural development needs and (v) information technology. In the following pages we &all examine briefly each one of these components in order to highlight some of the existing policy gaps/anomalies which need to be addressed. The Citizens Right to Information A catalyst to the current information revolution in the west has been the establishment of the citizen’s right to information. This was preceded by the removal of restrictions on the growth of the mass media and publishing in general. This led to the massive growth of the publishing industry and the media in general. The removal of these restrictions became possible when the citizens acquired the right to criticize government actions and activities, that is, when the government became responsible and accountable to its citizens. According to Mulei (1990) ,‘l in most western countries, the freedom of information laws have been in force for a long time. Sweden, for example has had a Freedom of the Press Act as part of its constitution since 1766, through which all official documents are now available for inspection and copying. Th.e French have a similar law providing access to administrative documents called the Data Processing and Liberties Act of 1978, and the USA has had a Freedom of Information Law since 1966 which was amended in 1974.

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Policies such as these which guarantee freedom of access to government and ruling party information are easier to accomplish in a multi-party state than in a one-party authoritarian state. Government accountability to its citizens, in turn, changes the overall operations of government. The government has to base its decisions on correct information and data and it has also to keep proper records of its activities. It is this that gave rise to national statistical systems and national government information systems and the drive to utilize information technology fully in order to achieve efficient information management at state level. The unfortunate thing is that in most of Africa, government actions and activities are still surrounded by an aura of secrecy and the government, through its control of the mass media, has given itself unbridled control over what the people should know or be told and how. This has stifled the growth of the private media and the publishing industry as a whole. Deportation orders for foreign journalists, detention of writers, harassment of the private press are common tactics in many African countries aimed at intimidating and domesticating the national mass media. Thus while talking of a national information policy that would enable Africa to participate in the information revolution, we must not forget the cornerstone of that revolution-the citizen’s right of access to information. Thus any information policy or policies must first and foremost guarantee this right. It is only when this right is guaranteed that the mass media and to some extent the publishing industry can flourish in Africa. Information for Decision Making According to Abate (1987) ‘7 the use of scientific public policy making and economic management techniques are rather recent phenomena in Sub-Saharan Africa. Decision making on the basis of available facts and upon analysis of trends has yet to become the norm, while intuitive judgement in decision making is prevalent and person to person communication remains the most common source of information. By age old habit, and the management culture in the civil service systems of Africa, the pursuit of information is considered as an academic and frivolous exercise. Yet a lot of resources are already being spent in the collection of national statistics of various sorts and many data are already available. We have noted two main problems: firstly that the push for increased statistical data collection remains external and secondly the politicians aversion to statistical information. Since politicians in much ofAfrica cannot be brought to task for their ignorant mistakes, in the name of sedition and confidential government business, the importance of information in decision making cannot ever

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be properly appreciated. The result has been aspirational rather than realistic policy making. A concerted effort is necessary to tackle this negative attitude of politicians, including the environment which allows this practice to flourish. Information for the Transfer of Technology Measured in world terms, Africa’s lack of scientific and technological development is frightening. African economies are largely dominated by poorly managed agricultural and raw materials exporting economies, with very disadvantageous terms of trade. As the countries of south-east Asia have demonstrated, to compete successfully in the global economic game is largely based on a nation’s ability to generate and incorporate new technological knowledge in its production processes. A number of studies have shown that between 40 to 90% of economic growth can be a direct outcome of the application of innovative knowledge by a country. If this is the case, then the questions of identifying, acquiring and making available information which facilitates the transfer of technology to African countries becomes a paramount concern of any national information policy. There is a need, for example, to find out what percentage of the GDP is spent on research in the country. In a sense this underscores a point raised earlier, that national information policies are closely intertwined with the country’s policies on Science and Technology, Education and Economic production. Information to meet the Rural Development Needs This has been the most ignored aspect in the information transfer chain. The government has tried to control the information available to the rural areas through the control of the mass media. The existing library and information systems as presently set up, cannot cater for the needs of this group. To cater for the needs of the rural areas, a radical transformation of the library and information system in Africa is necessary. Equally necessary is a change in government attitude towards the rural areas and its style of interaction with the rural areas which has been characterized by sporadic speech making tours by the politicians, party apparatchiks and bureaucrats. There is also a need to mobilize extension workers to enhance the process of exchanging information with rural areas. Essentially it seems that since rural development is an integrated process, it would seem logical that the information provision process also becomes an integrated one. Information Technolopy Information technology like most modern technology is something that is catching Africa unprepared. This has led to two attitudes in govern-

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ment circles. First, fear of the new technology and hence some hostility towards its importation and use which has sometimes led to talk of appropriate technology for developing countries out of context as a defensive ploy. Second, is the wholesale importation of modern rechnology as a sign of modernization and development. Both attitudes have led to the same results: the uncritical and uncontrolled importation of information technology which has left African governments at the mercy of suppliers. An example from Tanzania may serve to illustrate this situation. Sheya and Koda ( 1988)‘* g’lve the following account of the existing information technology scene in Tanzania. The existing main frame and mini computer systems in the country are products ofeight different manufacturers and only three of these offer sales and after sales services locally. As for mini computers there are 36 brands in Tanzania. Twohundred-and-ten of the 470 microcomputers in Tanzania have no manufacturer-supported repair and maintenance services available in the country. Apart from this, most of the computer owners use readymade packages from the suppliers. While the Tanzanian case might be an extreme, born out of previous neglect, it highlights the danger of information technology dependence that African countries are facing as a result of lack of proper policies to stimulate and rationalize the growth of this new technology. Postscript Soon after the completion of this paper, our attention was drawn to yet another new UNESCO guideline titled “National Information Policies: A Handbook on the Formulation, Approval, Implementation and Operation of a National Policy on Information” by Victor Montiviloff,” hereafter referred to as the Montiviloff report. While the new document does not overturn the main criticisms voiced in this paper, it has a number of contrasts and similarities to the previous guidelines which deserve comment. On the positive side, there are a number of things which we would like to highlight. The Montiviloff report shows a wider understanding of how policy is established and concedes that “. . . there are many ways of formulating a policy. . .” A policy may be established by custom or simply implied in the broader policies of a parent organization, or embodied in existing legislation.” Quite rightly, the author calls for a survey of the existing information legislation to show overlapping, inconsistencies and contradictions in the current policies. He makes no mention, however, of the hidden information policies which are identified above. The Montiviloff report calls for wider consultation aimed at achiev-

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inn representation of the main organizations invo\vcd in r,rovir\inp information services, notably managers (directors) 01 llaclollai 11l~~d, y services and librarians of the major libraries in the country, managers ^. ^ . Oi inlormatics and t~l~~~O~~~lT~UIli~‘~i~i~ii~ >,. . . ., .., .:,,,..., ., +;-~ : concerned with the development of library and informatioil scr\.iccs. the private sector institutions handling information, rcpresctitativcs ol information user groups, and foreign experts who have gained expcrience in formulating national policies on information in other countries. In this respect, this report offers a more comprehensive approach wit11 regard to who should participate, which is a better fotrndation than irr the previous guidelines. On the negative side, the report ‘has a number of weaknesses and contradictions, very much in the mode of the previous guidelines which have been extensively reviewed in this paper. For example, the current report is also based on a narrow definition of information which results in the exclusion of both the mass media and the extension agencies which are major information sub-sectors in developing countries. The political dimension of information is totally ignored which results in the neglect of the most important principle in the creation of a national namely the right of citizens to information, policy on information, including government information. The current report also fails to recognize the necessity to link up a national policy on information to existing policies on science and technology, education and economic production which are the foundations on which an information policy can be successfully executed. It is also clear that the current report, like its predecessor, adopts a consumption model of an information policy in a society which is in need of a production model of an information policy because of the under-developed nature of the information infrastructure. In addition, the Montiviloff report is plagued by the problem of confusing a public policy at national level, and an operational policy at the institution level. It is argued here that these are two distinct areas which are best kept apart if confusion is not to ensue. A helpful suggestion here is that these two types ofpolicies should be kept separate, since one is broad in scope while the other is narrowly focused to cater for the need of an individual organization. Arguing why a national policy should not be narrow in scope, Morton and Zink state “ . . . the (national) policy is intentionally broad in scope.. By addressing objectives, *'i':/,::,

it allows various departments and agencies to tailor objectives at departmental to those that are (nation) wide. As long as department and agency operational conform to strategic plans, latitute for policy implementation of the policy the agencies. . .“‘s

Another

issue of contention

focuses on the need to carry

level plans is left to

out policy

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evaluation as a precondition for enacting new policies. This is a step which is largely ignored in most UNESCO guidelines because it is assumed that Third World countries do not have national information policies, hence it is presumed that one cannot evaluate what does not exist. Unfortunately, the Montiviloff report falls into the same trap. Apart from the issues raised above, there are several additional weaknesses which the two reports have in common. -Foreign experts are expected to play a central role in the policy formulation process. While the participation of foreign experts is not necessarily a bad thing, their transitory nature makes them suitable only at the advisory level, rather than as the architects of a policy which is a long-term undertaking. -The preparation of a national policy on information is assumed to be the responsibility of information professionals, and the function of legislators is to endorse the finished policy document. -Libraries, archives and documentation centres will play the dominant role in the formulation of a national information policy. This view upholds the trend set by previous reports of stressing the dominance of documentation based information systems, thus ignoring all the other types of non-document based information which serve the majority of the people in most Third World countries. From the above survey of the general need for a national information policy, the UNESCO guidelines, the application of these guidelines and the survey of Africa’s information scene one can draw a number of conclusions that might be useful in the formulation of national information policies for the continent. We address ourselves to these concerns in the concluding section of this paper.

CONCLUSION

The need for national information policies is based on the need to attract government resources to the sector and to bring about coordination and rationalization in the sector. In the foregoing section we have tried to stress a number of aspects with regard to the issue of national information policies. First we have highlighted the fact that the aspects, issues and problems subsumed under the information sector cannot be realistically covered under a single national information policy. What is needed is a set of co-ordinated policies to cover the various aspects. The UNESCO guidelines on forming a national information policy were based on a restricted definition of information that covered only libraries and documentation and archival services.

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Because of this definition, the central objective of the guidelines calls for a policy centred on the creation of a national information coordinating organization, the creation of a national data base and a network of “archives, libraries and documentation centres.” In the three case studies of Botswana, Zambia and Tanzania it was noted that the national information co-ordinating bodies that are central to the guidelines are merely accorded an advisory role to government and the existing information agencies and groups. The reason for this is that most of the existing agencies and groups that deal with information were created as autonomous bodies by legislative acts and they are an embodiment of a number of government policies. The UNESCO guidelines fail to chart how existing policies on information can be accommodated in a new overall policy. Zambian information professionals have taken this into account and called for a review of the existing legislation in an attempt to bring about co-ordination between the existing agencies and groups dealing with information, although this is not done in a systematic way. Secondly, we have tried to highlight the nature of Africa’s information scene and some of the implicit and explicit policies on information in an attempt to answer the question of national information policies about what, for whom and how. The major point we have raised is the negative attitude of African governments towards citizens’ access to information that is underpinned in the existing government policy on mass media and public access to government information. There is a general restriction on information that has had repercussions in the whole information sector. The restriction on access to information is based on governments’ fear of criticism, and insecurity because their actions are not always responsive or accountable to their citizens. We argue that such restrictions on access to information have stifled the growth of the information industry in African countries. Governments’ negative attitude to free access to information has had its spillover effect into other areas. The first effect of this has been the downplaying of the information needs of rural areas beyond the enlisting ofpeasants to participate in government sponsored schemes. Second is the disregard of the research efforts of nationals which has resulted in little support for them and their supporting organizations. Third is the ambivalent attitude towards information technology which has led to its being ignored. Both these attitudes, as noted above, have led to the uncontrolled and unto-ordinated acquisition ofinformation technology leading to information technology dependency. Lastly the few advances that the information sector has made have come thanks to external support, thus there is little chance for sustained growth should donor support cease, as it is bound to do. Thus the acquisition of the new

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information technology, the growth of statistical data bases, the continuing functioning of libraries and information centres have largely been dependent on external support. Once this support is withdrawn there is stagnation and gradual collapse. In calling for a national information policy or policies all the above elements must be taken into account. Overall, there are two sets of policies needed with regard to the information sector. First is the fundamental policy that sets out the right of access of the citizens to information and commits governments and ruling parties to honour that right and to provide information to the public. Second is a set of sectoral policies, to guide the various information sectors and address some of the pressing issues. In this instance, there are sectors in which explicit policies have already been worked out, such as those policies which enabled the creation of existing national libraries, archival collections and the main documentation centres. There are other sectors in which policies have not yet been worked out such as policies to govern the future development of information technology, production of sufficient numbers of publications, policies to facilitate the transfer of technology etc. Furthermore we have other sectors where retrogressive policies were enacted in the past which must now be repealed to increase the level ofliberty and freedom ofexpression which citizens are entitled to. Hence there is an urgent need to review all the existing policies, in the light of changes that are taking place, to meet emerging needs. We would like to conclude this paper by making a few comments on the policy making process in Africa. We have noted in our criticism of the UNESCO guidelines the technocratic/bureaucratic process of policy making championed by the guidelines. We have also noted the two types of political systems in Africa in our review of Botswana, Zambia and Tanzania in their efforts to apply the guidelines to their situation, i.e. the administrative orientated and political orientated political setups. The UNESCO approach is likely to succeed in the former and not in the latter. To be noted however is that the technocrats-bureaucrats do not work in a political vacuum. Their suggestions are conditioned by the political environment in a particular country. The starting point is a political consensus on the goals to be achieved by the political system. In a situation in which the politicians have a one dimensional view and a proprietary attitude towards information, whatever is proposed is likely to be affected by this attitude. Unless there is a concerted effort to change the perception that politicians have ofinformation and informatics, we should not expect much, even from the Botswanan type of political set-up. Only cosmetic changes are likely to take place. It should also be noted that policy is a deliberate and binding action, given in terms of declarations, laws, acts of parliament, ordinances,

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presidential decrees etc. by authoritative organs of the state with the aim of influencing the behaviour of society or substantial sections thereof.24 It is thus an undertaking which in the final analysis remains the preserve of politicians. Finally, we wish to emphasize that for the national information policy-making process in Africa to be successful, the following elements are required: (i) The role of the information professionals should be confined to the preparation of background papers and lobbying the public policy makers, rather than themselves “dabbling” in policy making. (ii) The background information for policy makers should consist of evaluative studies which measure the impact of information services in relation to their goals rather than giving dominance to long uncritical descriptions from the office holders of the same information agencies. (iii) The national information policies should take as a starting point existing national policies (whether implicit or explicit) on Science and Technology, Education and Economic Development, including policies on industrialization, investment, export promotion, agricultural production, transfer of technology and research. (iv) If the claim that information/knowledge is an important factor of production similar to other natural resources such as land, water, minerals etc. has any truth, then recommending that the development of the information sector in a country can be managed by a part-time Information Coordination Committee is a serious under-estimation, rather like attempting to catch an elephant in a mouse trap. Surely a task of such magnitude can only be effectively executed by a high-powered office holder of no less than cabinet rank? We view this process as evolutionary and incremental in nature, rather than an overnight revolution (the fact that we are in a revolution prone continent, notwithstanding).

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