The government full understands the importance of having access to accurate information and therefore it’s ready to find out the obstacles and challenges towards the access of accurate information and informational processing in the media is full available for the betterment of the nation.
The government is aware of the effects that come about due to access of inaccurate information to humans. Further more the access to accurate information and the presence of misleading information has caused wars and misunderstandinga which could have been easily resolved if accurate information was provided.
That has been said by the minister of the constitution and the law,Dk.Augustine Mahiga in the commemoration of the universal access to information which took place in Morogoro whose slogan was”Leaving no one behind in the access to information “.
He added that Tanzania shouldn’t get into conflicts and wars but rather the government is ready to hear out different correspondents and cooperate with them and build up a good and caring environment to the access of accurate information and become better than before for the betterment of the nation.
Along with congratulating the organizers of the event,UNESCO,Dk Mahiga explained the importance of the public and private media institutions in working faithfully and carefully so as to reduce the negative effects that come about due to access of inaccurate information. He added that information processing is very important so that all citizens have access to information for their own development.
He said that issue of access to accurate information is not a one nation based case but its for the whole world because it has been emphasized since when the world war two ended which in one way or the other was accelerated by access to inaccurate information.
He said all nations and the world at large have agreed to the rights of expression and access to information ,many nations and many people still lack the right to access information and be informed and therefore arise problems in the concerned community.
He explained that it’s because of such cases that Tanzania is one among the countries that have signed freedom contracts and right to access of information and stated openly in it’s constitution about the rights to information.
He stated that there is a lot of benefits in people’s freedom to informing each other such as creating awareness in the society in different issues such as health,economy and how to live a better life.
Morever,when there is bad and destructive information,it leads to conflicts and misunderstandings in the community and therefore the community should ensure that there is access to accurate information so as to build the intended community.
He said that a great Government is the one that associates itself with with access democracy and thefore any democratic government should let their citizens have access to accurate information.
The minister insisted that information is like a “sword”with sharp edges at both angles which could bring about goodness or calamities. “Rights are well obtained if there is accurate information and inaccurate information brings about conflicts and the peace of the country is always at stake”said Dk.Mahiga.
He examplified the situation through the coming local government elections where by he said inorder for citizens to perform the elections in a more efficient way,they should be educated fully and should have awareness so that they can be sure of their votes.
He congratulated TADIO(Tanzania development information organisation) for being there for the citizens and that they are doing a great job of giving information to the citizens because of the unavoidable fact that the national radio is incapable of being accessed everywhere.
He elaborated that the great job that is being done by TADIO (Tanzania development information organisation)is very important because it helps in educating the community about different matters especially about the whereabouts of where our nation is leading to.
He commented that because of such efficiency it’s important for those organisations to become even more efficient in giving true information so that they won’t get into trouble with the law and eventually pull back the efforts of consuming the sweetness of the fruits of accessing information.
The acting chair-person of TADIO ,Maimuna Msangi who spoke at this event before Minister Mahiga,thanked UNESCO for enabling them to together in that important event in the country.
She also thanked MISA-TANZANIA for being one of the organizers but also various organizations and other stakeholders for joining together in the celebration.
Further more she thanked the presence of the preliminary agreement between TADIO and open university which enabled that network of the community radio to have an office in the buildings of that university.