When you ask government officials for information on any issue of public concern, the officials usually shrug and sneer as though to give you what is supposed to be public information is to do you a great favour.

The constitution and Access to Information Act, 2005 provide for a person’s right to access information that is in the hands of the state.

The Hub for Investigative Media (HIM) has been helping Ugandan citizens Access this information for the last three years.

On February 6th 2015, a land mark judgment was given in favour of HIM against the National Forestry Authority.

“Today, HIM has won its first landmark Access to Information case against the National Forestry Authority (NFA) for non-compliance to the Access to Information Act 2005.” Read Facebook Post of HIM on that day.

HIM sued NFA in August 2014 for failure to provide information that was requested for. In his ruling, the Chief Magistrate of Mengo Court Boniface Wamala granted all our prayers in the plaint.”

“This is a very big day for HIM, and a major step in the right direction.” The statement read

At a conference organized by the Pole Institute to launch a report on cross border Oil and Gas resources we had a chat with Hon. Mulindwa Birimumaaso on the sidelines concerning the work of HIM and the Access to Information Act. He urges government officials to give information to members of the public when they ask for it because it is their right. Watch this two minute video of our chat with him