Public entities should desist from withholding information which can be used to attract investors into the country, Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association director Permanent Ngoma has said.
Ngoma made the remarks during a community media indaba hosted by Community Podium in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Media Commission amid calls to educate the sector on procedures to take to access information from public and private entities.
In an interview with Southern Eye, Ngoma said access to information that would attract investors to the city was critical.
“It also helps to attract investment if information is shared with our diaspora family members and they can assist with people who can invest in the city,” she said.
“As Bulawayo residents, we value information from the local authority and information from central government so that we become part of the development happening in our community. We realise that a country or a community where communities are not involved in or don’t have enough information, lacks development.”
Ngoma said communities must have easy access to information so that they can assist in resolving challenges faced by the city.
“Communities are supposed to be recipients of policies, programmes and projects.
“It’s always important that there is an easy flow of information between our local authority, our central government as well as the residents so that as residents we also see how we can participate,” Ngoma said.
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She said, according to the United Nations, the reason why under-developed countries lagged on development was because there was no easy flow of information.
“There is absence of information, sometimes we always run with information that is not true or not complete because we don’t get the rightful information that is there,” she said.
Ngoma said information was important because it increased transparency and accountability while helping communities to gain trust in the local authority and its work.
Several public institutions have been accused of refusing to release information to the public regarding their operations.
