Three Mozambican institutions to test Access to Information Bill

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Three Mozambican institutions to test Access to Information Bill

12:17 CAT | 23 May 2017

Two non-profit organisations and the Mozambican Bar Association will put Mozambique’s new Access to Information law to the test today (Tuesday), with requests to ten state institutions.

The project aims to assess the extent to which the law is actually able to “promote knowledge and participation of citizens in public life”, the promoters’ statement says.

The project will select ten public institutions “to which 15 requests for information are to be sent”. These requests will relate to issues “from different social groups or from interest groups, such as research institutions, media, civil society organisations and organisations of people with disabilities”.

The evaluation will address “the level of technical and organisational readiness of institutions to respond to requests for information within legal deadlines”, and will be based on a set of fourteen indicators enshrined in the law itself and the African Union’s Model Law on Access to Information.

Among other points, these include the “mandatory disclosure of information, the timely availability of the requested information and non-discriminatory service to all citizens”.

The project is a partnership between the Sekelekani and MISA associations and the Mozambican Bar Association. MISA is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to the development of the communication sector in southern Africa, while Sekelekani is an independent, non-profit Mozambican institution promoting communication for development.

Source: Lusa