Ceylon Daily News: Sri Lanka: Tuesday, October
04, 2016.
The challenge
is to move from a closed government to an open one. This would be the biggest
challenge when dealing with the Right to Information (RTI) in Sri Lanka. As our
island nation joined the rest of the civilized world in marking the
International Day for RTI last week, a host of panelists at the International
Conference on the Right to Information and Media Reforms, held at the JAIC
Hilton on September28 and 29, were of the consensus that the RTI would further
strengthen democracy in the country.
“112
countries have RTI laws. Sri Lanka’s Right to Information Act (RTIA) is ranked
9th out of 112. It’s a very strong piece of legislation. In fact, it’s better
than the Canadian law,” said Toby Mendel, Director of Canada’s Centre for Law
and Democracy.
Furthermore,
many of the conference’s panelists argued that the RTI’s strength will allow
Sri Lanka to shift from a culture of concealment to one of transparency.
“The greatest
opportunity for RTI is the transformation of our institutional culture. It
gives us the chance to build a truly open society,” said Gehan Gunathilaka,
Director of Verité Research. He also said that Sri Lanka’s political and social
circumstances are ideal for the implementation of the RTI Act, as there is high
political will and public demand to institute the Act.
“In the past,
the colonial and post-colonial environments were ones of secrecy, not openness.
This must change, and hopefully the RTI will be a critical element in reforming
the culture of secrecy that still exists,” said Mendel, while adding that the
change will likely be difficult and take a long time.
The “culture
of secrecy” appears to be alive and well, as a survey conducted by Transparency
International Sri Lanka found that 31.1% of those who requested information
from government institutions could not obtain the documents or reports they
wanted. Another 30.8% of respondents reported that only with much difficulty
were they able to access their desired information.
Though there
will certainly be challenges in instituting the RTI Act, there is a palpable
optimism surrounding its passage. There does, however, remain a good deal of
concern about the Act’s implementation, as Sri Lanka will have to overcome a
great many challenges in order to properly enforce the Act and furnish its
citizens with information.
Problems
with Implementation
Though the
government originally pledged to enact the RTI Act within six months of its
ratification, three months have passed and it appears that things are running a
little behind schedule.
Dr. Ranga
Kalansooriya, Director General of the Department of Government Information,
told The Daily News in a previous interview that it will likely take a little
longer for the Act to be fully instituted.
Moreover, the
country must overcome myriad hurtles to properly implement the RTI. Some of the
more pressing issues are those of public relations and creating awareness of
the Act in society.
While 95% of
the general public thinks that they should be entitled to obtain information,
just 50.4% are aware of their right to information, according to the same
Transparency International Sri Lanka survey.
While Mendel
noted that it is encouraging that roughly half of the population is already
conscious of the new legislation, it is clear that more must be done to engage
the public. The question of how to educate people at the grassroots level drew
diverse and often conflicting ideas at the conference.
Gunathilaka
pointed to the important role civil society plays in teaching the public about
the RTI. “Civil society activism is crucial here, as it creates awareness of
issues and draws attention to specific incidents and violations. It must hold
the government to account,” he said.
Kalansooriya,
in the previous interview, also mentioned the importance of civil society, but
said that other government ministries must get involved in raising awareness at
the grassroots level. He added, however, that the government cannot be solely
responsible for educating the public about the RTI Act.
This approach
of encouraging civil society to do the heavy lifting clashes rather strongly
with Bangladesh’s strategy of publicizing its own RTI Act. Bangladesh followed
the 2009 ratification of its own Act with a massive online and grassroots
campaign.
“We improved
our technological infrastructure in order to make it easier for people to
access information digitally. We also created a national web portal that
contained over 25,000 websites dealing with RTI,” said Dr. M. D. Abdul Hakim,
Deputy Director of Bangladesh’s Information Commission.
Furthermore,
Hakim shared that the government formed a national-level working group that
consisted of six officials that was headed by the Secretary of the Cabinet
Division. The group formally planned the enactment of the RTI Act. The
government also created a sixteen-member district advisory committee that
coordinated programmes on RTI implementation in the district level offices.
Central to
Bangladesh’s strategy, however, was its adept use of technology along with its
desire to educate kids about the RTI Act. “We made a mobile app, started a
social media campaign, and created many websites. It is mandatory for schools
and both public and private universities to teach about the RTI. We also made
videos, conducted live talk show sessions, and held public discussions, while
also going on radio programmes and TV shows,” Hakim added.
Pakistan, for
its part, conducted a similar, if less comprehensive campaign to publicize its
own law. “The government built an online web portal, created an RTI
facilitation center, set up a toll free information number, and paid for
seminars and workshops in order to educate people about the law,” said
Professor Kalim Ullah, Information Commissioner of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.
“Awareness
is the key,” he said.
While still
early in the RTI implementation process, Sri Lanka appears to lack robust
government-led public awareness campaigns. Though media and civil society can
and should play a large role, it would appear that the government must invest
more resources in setting up infrastructure to spread the news of the RTI.
Training/Information
Commission
Another
challenge lies in properly training government information officers. Sri Lanka
has over 4,500 government institutions, and every single one will require at
least a single information officer who is responsible for processing requests
and distributing information.
“It will take
at least three years to train 4,500 information officers. In all likelihood we
will need around 9,000 officials,” said Shan Wijetunge, Transparency
International’s Senior Manager of Advocacy and Public Relations. Finding the
money to train so many people is an obvious challenge that many experts pointed
out.
Bangladesh,
for its part, spent over four years training 22,000 information officers at the
ministry level and in its 96 sub-districts.
Sri Lanka has
not started its officer-training programme, and this is to be expected. While
training is expected to take a few years, it is necessary to start making
efforts to change the air of secrecy that surrounds information distribution
that both Mendel and Gunathilaka spoke about.
In the
Transparency International survey, 24% of government officials reported that
the government institutions at which they work do not have a clear system or
mechanism for providing information. Furthermore, 66% of the officers declared
that there are certain limitations imposed on them that hamper the sharing of
information.
At this
point, many requests for information are simply ignored or refused without
proper explanation. The government hopes that training will foster a culture of
transparency.
Sri Lanka’s
RTI also calls for the establishment of an Information Commission, a body that
will ensure that government institutions follow the laws that the Act lays out.
While the Commission is not yet operational, it was an important topic of
discussion at the conference.
According to
Piyatissa Ranasinghe, former Secretary to the Ministry of Post and
Telecommunications, the Commission should handle RTI inquiries, publicize the
rights of citizens, and establish guidelines and mechanisms for obtaining information.
It will,
however, play a bigger role with public authorities. “The Information
Commission should monitor and ensure public officials’ compliance with the RTI,
mediate problems with implementation and have a hand in training,” said
Ranasinghe.
“The
Commission must also work with Parliament to track the progress of the RTI,
share relevant information, and prepare further regulations to protect the
rights of citizens,” he continued, while adding that it should also play a role
in prosecuting those who do not follow the RTI law.
The Role
of the Media
Most
panelists agreed that the media would play a central part in spreading
awareness of the RTIA. Alongside publicizing the Act, however, the media would
have other responsibilities.
“Journalists
should request information and act as watchdogs while they work to educate the
public,” said Mendel.
Gunathilaka
concurred, saying that the media is vital to changing the culture of
withholding information. “We must have transparency at all levels. Everyone
must scrutinize the decisions of public authorities,” he said.
It is the
opportunity to reform the country’s attitude towards transparency that had so
many experts excited about the RTIA. “The RTI can help establish good
governance and reduce corruption, and the media must help with this,” said
Hakim.
Despite much
optimism, Gunathilaka cautioned the conference’s attendees not to celebrate
quite yet.
“Be patient.
We still have some way to go,” he said.
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