Right To Information Is For People’s Power

By Faizer Shaheid and Ruwan Laknath Jayakody –April 2, 2016

More than a year since the original Right to Information draft bill was first presented in Parliament, the bill was resubmitted with significant improvements made. The Government had held several public consultations in this regard where several intellectuals participated and the recommendations appear to have been largely heeded to. When the bill was originally presented in January last year, several criticisms were made and the bill was claimed to be badly done. However, through a committee led by Dr. Jayampathy Wickremaratne, the Government took in stakeholder recommendations and the final bill was presented in Parliament on 24 March, 2016 by Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Mass Media, Gayantha Karunathilaka.

What is Right to Information?

Most people do not understand the victory of the people through this Act. The Right to Information is the right of the people to access and obtain information in regard to matters that are political or apolitical and relevant to the public individually or as a group.

Firstly, it strives to improve public participation in the policy making process and thereby encourages the public to directly get involved in the process of government.

Secondly, it promotes transparency and accountability of our politicians that we have elected to office. By directly being able to obtain information regarding various projects, we would know exactly what our representatives are doing. This way, the people at large, including those in the rural communities would know be aware of the actions of their Parliamentarians.

Thirdly, it minimizes corruption and wastage. The open access to information would enable the masses and the law enforcement forces to act against any wrongdoing by our political representatives.

Such a right would be the epitome of the attainment of Article 3 of the Constitution on sovereignty of the people.

The Evolution of the Right to Information

The Right to Information first emerged in Europe when the principle of Public Access developed in Sweden in the 18th Century. Sweden then became the very first country to enact a Right to Information Act in 1766. It allowed for unrestricted access to government information by availing documents.

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