ABSTRACT
Central to translating the values of democratisation and governance into effective strategies to promote transparency and open government in Africa is the issue of access by citizens to government and in some cases, privately held information. This chapter establishes the importance of Access to Information (ATI) to the governance process in terms of public participation and the accountability of institutions to the general public. It discusses the effect of the contestation for ATI in Africa, the emerging trends and outcomes, and the good practices emerging from the success in the various struggles. The chapter suggestes that the right to information is fundamentally a change process that needs to be managed in its social circumstances, rather than a simple constitutional or legislative act. It assesses how a government would respond to demands for transparency and how the citizen will utilise the power to demand accountability.
