What is top secret?
The much-awaited urgent application pitting the Namibia Central Intelligence Service (NCIS) against the local weekly, The Patriot, will take centre stage in the High Court today. The NCIS is desperately trying to block a planned article from being published in the weekly newspaper. The article, according to The Patriot, relates to the acquisition of two farms in the Otjozondjupa Region as well as a house by the spy agency. The total cost of the two farms, which were bought in 2015, reportedly cost government N$57 million, while N$8.2 million was spent on a house in 2016, The Patriot's editor Mathias Haufiku said in his affidavit. Instead of responding to queries by the newspaper, the NCIS chose to approach the High Court to ask for a court interdict against the newspaper. The NCIS claimed that the publication of this report would contravene the 1982 Protection of Information Act and threaten or jeopardise national security. It further insisted that all information about the activities and assets of the NCIS must be kept secret. The leaking of inside information, which the spy agency strongly considers as “classified”, puts the NCIS under more scrutiny than ever. There is no doubt that The Patriot/NCIS case has a direct bearing on the media industry in the country and will set a legal precedent for other similar cases. The question is what kind of information is deemed as classified and sensitive enough to national security, so much so, that access to it must be controlled and restricted. The media has an important role to play in society and that includes keeping the authorities and government on their toes to ensure a great level of accountability. All in all, we are in total concurrence with the Editor's Forum of Namibia (EFN) in condemning the archaic 1982 Protection of Information Act which the NCIS is using to impose a gag order against the newspaper. This complete lack of transparency makes the NCIS a law unto itself, which is a threat to our democracy. The acquiring of properties can therefore not be regarded top secret. At the end of the day the media has the right to investigate questionable dealings of this nature with the ultimate aim of safeguarding national interests.
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Namibian Sun
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