MOZAMBIQUE Some institutions revealed great difficulties in receiving the MISA Team, as was the case with the Ministry of the Interior and the Municipality of Beira. This experience served as a reminder that the process to secure interviews should also be taken into account as essential for assessing the level of accessibility of institutions in making information available to the public. There are a number of obstacles to the full implementation of the Right to Information Law, including the State’s inability to rapidly providehuman and financial resources. These include information officers to deal with requests for information in each institution holding public information. Other factors are the poor state of archives at these institutions as well as the lack of political will to fully implement the law. Although institutions do not yet have a dedicated space and personnelto receive and handle requests, a marked improvement was noted at some institutions, such as the Maputo City Council, which assigned the Communications Office the task of dealing with requests for information. In conclusion, it would appear that Mozambique still has a long way to go. This is in part seen as a legacy of the 24 years of oneparty rule, which has left a deeply entrenched culture of secrecy and controlling. Category 1: Online Presence • • • • • With the exception of Empresa de Transporte, Multiplexação e Transmissão (TMT), all institutions have an online presence, in the form of either a website, social media or both. Websites have little information, in some cases nothing on the activities and financials of the entities can be found, with only information of a general nature. Itis near impossible to use the websites to monitor the activities of the institutions or obtain relevant information about them. Updatingof information is inadequate, which can further discourage people from consulting the websites. Certain types of documents, such as reports and public interest studies, are generally old and incomplete in terms of making availablerelevantinformation held by the institutions. Category 2: Requests for information • • • • 46 Most institutions did not acknowledge receipt of requests for informationor provide responses to questions posed. Only three institutions responded to the request for information within the period established by law (21 working days). Most institutions do not have the information or dedicated staff to respond to requests for information. Institutions have difficulty sharing information without asking for justification for the requests. • • The pretext of information being classified as ‘secret’ is a ready tool to refuse the provision ofinformation. Almost all institutions have difficulty in cataloguing information and organising archives accessible to the public (with the exception of the Maputo City Council). THE MOST OPEN PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS Unlike last year, when no institution met the requirements to be awarded the Golden Key Award, this year, it was noted that a number of institutions presented minimally encouraging results; specifically the Maputo City Council and the Railways of Mozambique. Although both responded to requests outside the period established by the law (21 days), and did not provide the requested information, on the grounds that they are not required to do so, both institutions have functioning websites with relevant information. Both scored more than 20 points on the 40-point scale. The Maputo City Council is the recipient of the 2017 Golden Key Award. THE MOST SECRETIVE PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS One institution in Mozambique, namely the Empresa de Transporte, Multiplexação e Transmissão (TMT)(Transport, Multiplex and Transmission Enterprise) had a zero score. TMT is a public digital television network operator responsible for encoding, multiplexing, transporting and broadcasting the digital terrestrial television signal countrywide. Created in 2015 in a joint effort by the public broadcasting and telecommunications corporations, TMT is still in the project phase. It does not have a website,nor a mechanism for receiving and processing information of public interest.TMT failed to respond to the request for information. All considered, the recipient of the Golden Padlock Award for 2017 is the Empresa de Transporte, Multiplexação e Transmissão (TMT).