BOTSWANA The Ministry has empowering and positive youth programmes which need more than the traditional way of disseminating information. Policies meant to control the issuing of information must not frustrate information seekers, which unfortunately appears to be the case at MYESC. • The Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sports and Culture Development therefore wins the Golden Padlock Award. • THE MOST OPEN PUBLIC INSTITUTION IN BOTSWANA BOCRA’s swift response to the request and its well-managed website makes it the most open institution in the country among those surveyed. The website is user-friendly and customerfocused. Regularly updated, it hosts almost all the policy documents of the institution as well as other vital information. On their website, BOCRA clearly explains its complaints policy and process. It further provides an electronic feature to allow registering for the complaint. This feature, together with ‘Frequently Asked Questions,’ makes their information easily accessible. The Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority is therefore awarded the Golden Key Award. RECOMMENDATIONS • • • • • 22 Botswana is in urgent need of an access to information law. The law will protect the information seeker, custodians of public information (public officials) as well as the Government. The law is expected to provide legal mechanisms, guidelines and exemptions to the handling of public information. The first contact public relations assistants (juniors) must be empowered to release preliminary information while they are still engaging their supervisors or other relevant officials. Departmental policies relating to the dissemination of information need not be buffer zones between information seekers and the information. In the absence of an access to information law, ministries and other state organisations must have their own information commissioners, in addition to the PR departments, which will rule on controversial or sensitive information. This, in any case, is the kind of structure envisioned by an ATI law. Departments must compile and keep their information ‘release’-ready at any given time. This means when the information is sought, all that the officer has to do is to customise the pre-packaged information to the specific request. • • Public information must be open for consumption and any exemptions must be publicly and proactively stated. Public offices must have clearly stated whistleblowing and protection processes. The State must revise and modify policies and laws, such as the Public Service Act, which hinder the release of information. The Media Practitioners Act, which has become dormant, must be repealed and replaced by a law more conducive to access to information. Therefore the winner of the Golden Padlock Award for the most secretive public institution in 2017 is the Ministry of Health.