SECTOR 1

Scores:
Individual scores:
1

Country does not meet indicator

2

Country meets only a few aspects of indicator

3

Country meets some aspects of indicator

4

Country meets most aspects of indicator

5

Country meets all aspects of the indicator

Average score:

4.0 (2005 = 2.5; 2007 = 1.4; 		
2009 = 3.5; 2011 = 4.7)

1.7 Public information is easily accessible, guaranteed
by law, to all citizens.
At the time of the fourth round of the African Media Barometer (AMB) in
Mozambique, although the right to information, which is the subject of the
present report, was guaranteed by the CRM, specifically by means of the standard
stated in number 1 of Article 48 – “All citizens have the right to freedom of
expression, freedom of the press and freedom of information” –, access as such
to public information was not thought to be facilitated. Although it was true
that there was no Law of the Right to Information which, in terms of number
6 of Article 48 of the CRM, should regulate access to public information, it was
still problematic that a basic right should be deferred by an ordinary law, taking
into account that the CRM itself provides that if one takes into account that the
CRM itself provides that “Individual rights and freedoms are directly applicable,
and binding on public and private entities, guaranteed by the State and must be
exercised in terms of the Constitution and the laws ”.
The Draft Law on the Right to Information which, on the date of the fourth round
of the AMB had only been approved in general, namely August 22 2014, was
specifically approved on November 26 of the same year and, as a result, made
into law, which was promulgated by the PR on December 18 2014, but is yet to
be published in the Official Gazette of the Republic. This is a law which is basically
in line with the international principles which goven the right to information and
with the potential to improve the quality of media products, particularly in the
field of investigative journalism, although there are not yet any items which can
be used to assess if this will or will not be applied in Mozambique.
In addition to the CRM and the recently approved Law on the Right to Information,
as mentioned in point 1,1, Mozambique has a panoply of legal isntruments which
are favourable to the right to information – for the citizenry in general and not
only or particularly journalists – , among which are highlighted Decree Number

AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER MOZAMBIQUE 2014

75

Select target paragraph3