News release - Africans demand right to public information but see access as restricted, new Afrobarometer report shows

The analysis shows that in countries where access to information about local government plans and budgets is seen as limited, citizens are more likely to see their elected officials as corrupt, and less likely to trust them. [...] ▪ About eight in 10 respondents say information about local government budgets (81%) and local government bids and contracts (78%) should be accessible to the public. [...] ▪ More than seven in 10 respondents consider it unlikely that they could obtain information about local government bids and contracts (72%) and local government budgets (71%), and 65% hold the same view regarding local school budgets (Figure 3). [...] ▪ Access to information is strongly associated with perceptions of corruption and trust: Citizens who consider it unlikely that they could access local government and school information are more likely to perceive widespread corruption among government officials at all levels, including the Presidency. [...] And trust in local government officials and members of Parliament is much lower in countries where citizens feel they cannot access information about their local governments and schools (Figure 4).