MALAWI SUMMARY in NUMBERS Institution Website Blantyre City Council 12 Department of Immigration Lilongwe City Council Malawi Electoral Commission Request for information Total score 17 29 12 2 14 6 10 16 15 18 33 Malawi Revenue Authority 15 12 27 Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority 18 10 28 Ministry of Health 12 2 14 Ministry of Local Government 3 18 21 Mzuzu City Council 4 14 18 RESEARCH CONCLUSIONS Overall, this study has shown that government institutions are improving their online presence and proactively providing information to the public using online platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and their websites. All the nine institutions analysed in this study have some form of an online presence. Most government and public institutions in the country have recently put public relations officers or information managers in place as links between their respective entities and the general public. This is an important and positive development which was also noted during the 2016 study and ought to be commended. There has been an improvement in the number of institutions that have responded to the requests for information compared to last year’s study. Out of nine organisations seven responded, representing a 78% response rate. There is still room for improvement to make sure that all institutions respond to requests for information. Another notable development is that all the institutions have updated information on their online platforms. This is also the case for those that have both websites and social media accounts. This is commendable and ought to be celebrated. All the institutions with websites, such as the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority, the Malawi Revenue Authority and the Malawi Electoral Commission, have relevant information on their websites which provides Malawians with important information and enables them to make informed decisions. The Ministry of Health has improved its online presence and managed to improve its website analysis score from 6/20 in 2016 to 12/20 in 2017. This improvement needs to be maintained and built upon. THE MOST SECRETIVE PUBLIC INSTITUTION IN MALAWI All institutions that scored an aggregate below 20 qualify as closed institutions. Institutions that scored below 20 include Mzuzu City Council, Lilongwe City Council, the Department of Immigration and the Ministry of Health. According to the scores, both the Ministry of Health and the Department of Immigration scored a total of 14 points, having performed extremely poorly on requests for information. It is important to note that both the Ministry of Health and the Department of Immigration hold crucial information which people should have daily access to. However, the Ministry of Health, which has scooped the Padlock Award on two occasions, is more vital for the wellbeing of the nation. The Ministry drives the health sector and should be proactive in disseminating information that directly affects Malawian lives. Although the Ministry’s website has improved compared to 2016, the site still lacks some vital information. The Ministry needs to be in the forefront in proactively making health information accessible to Malawians. As stated in 2016, the health sector continues to generate negative publicity on drug theft and shortage of drugs in public hospitals, among other issue. The Ministry should be open, transparent and readily available to provide information to citizens. Therefore the winner of the Golden Padlock Award for the most secretive public institution in 2017 is the Ministry of Health. 37