SWAZILAND SUMMARY in NUMBERS Institution Request for information Total score 8 0 8 Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology 11 2 13 Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs 8 12 20 Ministry of Tourism and Environmental Affairs 9 10 19 Small Enterprises Development Company 9 0 9 Swaziland Energy Regulatory Authority 16 0 16 Swaziland Railway 14 0 14 Swaziland Tourism Authority 7 14 21 RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS Results of this 2017 study are little different from those of the previous years. There is still a lot of reluctance from officials responsible for providing public information to both members of the public and media practitioners. Worse still, there are no clear lines of communication in most of these public institutions. Government ministries have hired information or communication officers but these public officers are paid for doing little in terms of providing information; they do not have the authority to respond to the queries brought to them. Only the Principal Secretaries in the government ministries are authorised to respond to the questions directed at the ministries. Unfortunately, these people seem to have no time for information seekers as they always claim to be busy with national duties. Information on the officials designated to liaise with the public and the media is not even communicated through the websites. The situation is the same in public institutions—they do not have officials designated to provide information to information seekers. It takes a lot of perseverance and time to get public information from public institutions. All this underscores the urgent need for the promulgation of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Bill which is going to encourage public institutions to timeously release information to the public and media. THE MOST SECRETIVE PUBLIC INSTITUTION IN SWAZILAND Of the eight public institutions that were assessed and evaluated for this particular study, the poorest performing institution and hence the winner of the 2017 Golden Padlock Award for the most secretive public institution in Swaziland is the Ministry of Home Affairs. 84 Website Ministry of Home Affairs THE MOST OPEN PUBLIC INSTITUTION IN SWAZILAND The best performing institution and winner of the 2017 Golden Key Award for the most open public institution in Swaziland is the Swaziland Tourism Authority. RECOMMENDATIONS The study results underscore the need for easing access to public information. It is high time that public institutions go an extra mile and prioritise information dissemination to the public and through the media. Government ministries should give the information and communication officers the authority to communicate information to the public and media because access to information is key to social, economic, political and cultural development. There should be a reasonable turnaround time for answering questions considering the public need for information to make informed decisions on issues affecting their lives, while the media has deadlines to meet. Ministries should be allowed to have independent websites and social media pages which they can update in-house. Names and contact details of the officials occupying the position of public relations officers should be provided on the website to facilitate contact.