Daily Mirror: Sri Lanka: Thursday,
February 16, 2017.
Coinciding
with Independence Day on February 4, instead of only impressive talks and
military parades, Sri Lanka also had the privilege of the historic Right to
Information Act coming into operation guaranteeing to the people their
fundamental right to information about what is done with billions in public money
and resources.
The Daily
Mirror in an editorial on February 3, the day on which the RTI Act came into
operation called for adequate financial and other resources to be provided to
the RTI Commission and for civic action groups to act proactively and seek
information on big public contracts, projects and other deals to ensure
transparency and accountability by political leaders and state officials. A
good governance group translated this editorial into Sinhala and circulated it
among the people so that the RTI Act could become a solid base whereby the
right to information is ensured and more importantly politicians and top
officials are not allowed to do big private business with public funds.
The RTI commission in a media statement this
week says it is encouraged by the support and interest evidenced by the people
in regard to the effective working of the RTI Act.
The Act was
operationalised in respect of Public Authorities (PAs) on February 3. The
Commission published a public notice in the newspapers in all three national
languages on January 29 and February 2. The Daily Mirror advises the citizens
to carefully read these notices so that they could act effectively to ensure
transparency and accountability when handling public money and prevent the type
of corruption and frauds, kickbacks and commissions revealed during the past 10
years.
The Commission points out it is the central
oversight, policy-making and enforcement agency and the appeal body established
under the Act. It is a statutorily independent body entrusted with the task of
guiding implementing agencies and users of RTI, ensuring compliance with the
Act and hearing appeals.
According to
the Commission, the Act was enacted to bring about a major democratising
transformation of relations between the citizens and the government. It imposes
important new obligations of openness on public authorities which include
constitutional and statutory entities, government departments and bodies,
corporate bodies in which the government has a controlling interest, provincial
and local authorities as well as courts, tribunals and institutions established
to administer justice. This also includes private entities working under
contract, agreement, licence or a partnership with the government where their
statutory or public service or function is concerned higher educational,
private vocational or technical educational institutions established,
recognised or licensed under any written law or funded wholly or partly by the
State and non–governmental organizations rendering a service to the public.
The
Commission says it wishes to inform citizens they are now able to exercise a
right to access information held by these public authorities, subject only to a
few exceptions, which are subject to the public interest override. New norms
are established for public authorities to proactively share information.
The
Commission also says it is still in its early days and is operating in an
interim capacity with a skeletal staff and from temporary premises. Yet the
five-member Commission says it is committed to building a strong independent
operation with the expertise and capacity to support all those who seek and
provide public information. To that end, the Commission has developed rules on
fees and appeals and provided feedback to the nodal agency, the Ministry of
Parliamentary Reforms and Mass Media on Regulations in regard to the effective implementation
of the RTI Act.
According to
the Commission, the February 3 gazette regulation strengthens proactive
disclosure and obligations, stipulate criteria for the appointment of
information officers and an open re-use policy. The rules specify a pro-people
fee schedule, informal hearings of appeals and exceptionally states that if an
appeal is successful to the designated officer or the commission, fees for that
information will not be charged.
The
Commission notes that participation and feedback by citizens is vital to bringing
about a culture of accountability and openness. This is the primary objective
of the RTI Act and the commission looks forward to proactive public engagement
in that regard.