SECTOR 1 Accessing detailed information on the national budget is also difficult. “The Ministry of Information in the budget speech, said that government would build eight bridges during the financial year. We asked for information on where these bridges are being built, but were told that they could not disclose this, because it would cause infighting between the parties. They do not want to be accountable.” “Also, Ministries are supposed to report to the Portfolio Committees every quarter, but no reporting is done.” Panellists felt that government officials are only open with information “when they want to prove their mandate and want to lie to the public” Another access issue for citizens is language. Most public official documents are written in English, and although literacy rates in Lesotho are relatively high, it is at a very basic level. Exacerbating this fact, Lesotho’s reading culture is weak, and “our people sometimes are not very interested in reading these documents, even when they are accessible.” While government has done well in making speeches available on its websites (albeit occasionally late), sometimes there is a cost to accessing information. “If you want information from the Government Gazette, you have to pay. And sometimes it is out of print.” The Hansards are available for free, but can only be accessed at Parliament. The Lesotho Legal Information Institute also makes a great deal of law-related information available on its website. 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: 2.0 (2012 = 1.3; 2010 = 1.3; 2008 = 1.4; 2006 = 1.2) AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER LESOTHO 2015 21