Withholding public information from information-seekers by government and public institutions appears to be the rule rather than the exception in Eswatini, formerly Swaziland.
It is an open secret that a culture of secrecy still exists within the government and public institutions. As a result, public complaints of lack of access to information held by government and public entities abound.
READ THE ESWATINI TRANSPARENCY ASSESSMENT REPORT FOR 2018
Of the eight public institutions that were assessed and evaluated for this particular study, the poorest performing institution and winner of the 2018 Golden Padlock Award for the most secretive public institution in Eswatini is the Ministry of Agriculture.
Actions do not match the words of the officials designated to receive and respond to information requests in government and public institutions. This research concludes that a majority of them still find it hard to get rid of the deep-rooted culture of secrecy in the course of their duties. This becomes evident when seven out of the eight public institutions surveyed failed to respond to the researcher’s information requests.
The best performing public institution and winner of the 2018 Golden Key Award for the most open public institution in Eswatini is the Municipal Council of Mbabane.
READ THE MISA SOUTHERN AFRICA REGIONAL OVERVIEW FOR TRANSPARENCY FOR 2018
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