SECTOR 1 1.7 Public information is easily accessible, guaranteed by law, to all citizens There is no access to information law in Lesotho. Sections 14 and Section 20 of the constitution (read together) implicitly provide a right to some form of government information, but this provides freedom to information and not the right to receive public information. The constitution does not guarantee direct access to information. In 2000, there was an attempt to legislate access to information when the Access and Receipt of Information Bill of 2000 was drafted. However, 18 years after its drafting, the Bill has not been passed into an Act of Parliament, despite several campaigns by civil society organisations (CSOs) – such as MISA-Lesotho – that have petitioned for its passing into law. Accessing public information in the country is very difficult. In most cases, public information remains secret and the ability to access it depends on the willingness of officials working in public institutions. ‘The situation of accessing public information is so bad that the government will not even provide you with policies.’ One panellist recounted an incident when they requested a policy on mental well-being from the Ministry of Health – the request was denied. Every government office, ministry and agency have a public information office designated to assist the public with accessing information, however, this is often not done. In addition, panellists noted that most information officers do not fully understand their work roles (e.g. the webpages of most government offices are not updated). ‘The attitude of these information or public relations officers is terrible, to say the least.’ Even if public information was easy to access, most of it is written in English, thus making it inaccessible to the majority of citizens in the country. Another panellist noted that civil servants are required to sign an oath under the public service code not to share information. In light of this, and coupled with the Official Secrets Act and the public service code, accessing information from public institutions is almost impossible. 16 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER LESOTHO 2018