Most transparent vs most secretive
Catherine Shipushu, communication practitioner of the MVA Fund receiving the Golden Key Award from Spoken Word poet, Playshis. The Media Institute commended the fund for its timely, open and transparent communications.
The Media Institute used the day as an opportunity to highlight citizens’ right to access to information, freedom of expression, and media freedom through song, poetry and comedy.
The Motor Vehicle Accident Fund is the most transparent public institutions according to the Media Institute while the National Housing Enterprise was denoted the most secretive. The former received the Golden Key Award while the latter got the Golden Padlock Award.
The Namibian chapter of the Media Institute of Southern Africa conducted the study between May and July 2013 to assess the level of transparency in the government and public institutions. The research adopted both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. Questionnaires were sent out to eight selected institutions comprising four ministries and four parastatals. The aim was to establish the transparency and accessibility of information of the chosen government and public institutions.
Websites were critiqued on the usefulness and relevance of their information and how well these are organized.
For the purpose of conducting the mini-survey, eight ministries or parastatals were chosen at random. Polled entities consisted of the Road Fund Administration, National Housing Enterprise, the Ministry of Youth National Service, Sport and Culture, the Ministry of Safety And Security, the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, Motor Vehicle Accident Fund, National Planning Commission, and NamWater.
The Motor Vehicle Accident (MVA) Fund is the most open public institution closely followed by the Ministry of Agriculture Water and Forestry (MAWF) and the National Planning Commission (NPC). The National Housing Enterprise (NHE) ranks the lowest, the Ministry of Safety and Security and the Ministry of Youth National Service and Culture rank only marginally better.
