MOZAMBIQUE

MOZAMBIQUE
English Summary

THE STATE OF ACCESS
TO INFORMATION IN
MOZAMBIQUE
Mozambique approved a new Constitution in 2004, which in its
Article 48 provides for the right to information. Though such
a right was already provided for in the 1990 Constitution, the
promulgation of the new Constitution inspired MISA Mozambique
to submit a draft proposing a law on the right to informationto
Parliament.
After laying dormant for nine years, intense lobbying by civil
society finally drove the proposal to the National Assembly,
which set in motion a process of public hearings on the matter.
Under pressure from civil society, a bill was eventually tabled and
the law was finally promulgated on 31 December 2014. However,
it remained unimplemented for a year until the regulations were
approved on 31 December 2015.
This study was conducted 20 months into the implementation
process of legislation aimed atfacilitating public access to
information held by public institutions. The introduction of the
law does not yet seem to have changed the access to information
environment in Mozambique. The perception among civil society
organisations, journalists and research institutions is that the law
is not yet fully implemented, which makes it difficult to exercise
the right of access to information.

OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study was to determine the level of openness
of institutions in terms of making information publicly available.

Specific objectives:
1.

Identify the nature of institutional difficulty faced by
institutions in making information available;
2. Assess the degree of compliance with the time provided by
law for the handling and response to requests for information
of public interest;
3. Monitor websites, the information they provide and the
frequency with which they are updated.

The institutions assessed were a mix of: one (1) institution of
the Central State Administration under the supervision of the
Ministry of the Interior; three (3) local authorities; four (4) public
enterprises; and one (1) private company. These were evaluated
in terms of two main categories of criteria, namely an analysis
of their use of online platforms and the response to requests for
information.

FINDINGS
The 2017 study paints a critical picture of the institutions that
hold information of public interest.In general, they demonstrate
an awareness of the importance of making information available
to the public, as a tool for transparency, accountability, credibility
and legitimacy of their actions. However, they are mired in
technical and institutional difficulties, many still do not have the
appropriate structures to enable a more flexible and simplified
exchange of information with citizens. As a case in point, many
of the institutions have websites, these do not provide relevant
information and few are routinely updated, diminishing their
relevance in the flow and access to information.
The learning process is unfolding at a slow pace, which means
that the creation of a culture of openness with respect to the
provision of information to the public will require proactive
monitoring actions to arrive at a point where making information
available becomes second nature. It is within this framework that
MISA-Mozambique, together with several partners, is working to
strengthen the institutional capacities of public bodies to equip
them for the task of making information available.
The results show that there has been little improvement
compared to last year, in both categories. However, there has
been a slight improvement in the institutions’ responsesto
requests for information, although responses are not always
satisfactory.
A new phenomenon was the denial of access to information on
the grounds that the requested documents are protected by
confidentiality clauses. This argument was used specifically in
connection with contracts between public and state institutions
and between public and private institutions; as well as the
reports and accounts of public companies.

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