Ruhi Naz

While awaiting the completion of a government-initiated process to select the three information commissioners, following a prolonged vacancy that this column has lamented time and again, it may be useful to revisit the enduring value of right to information (RTI) in strengthening democratic governance.

It may sound like a broken gramophone record for us to continue lamenting the absence of the chief information commissioner and two information commissioners in Bangladesh since September 2024, following the political transition after the July uprising.

It is true that observers have so far viewed the performance of the BNP government, which took office in February 2026 following a year-and-a-half-long interim administration, with cautious optimism.

Recently, Dr. Zahed Ur Rahman, adviser to the prime minister on information and broadcasting, has welcomed constructive criticism from citizens regarding the government’s performance.

As the Right to Information (RTI) Act, 2009 remains effectively dormant in Bangladesh, RTI advocates must now rely on the new government’s resolve to operationalise it.

The long-anticipated and widely speculated national election has concluded. Contrary to many predictions, voters delivered a decisive mandate to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

While 2025 was a year marked by despair over the paralysis of Bangladesh’s right to information (RTI) regime, the beginning of 2026 has brought a welcome note of resistance and resolve.

Rather than retreating in the face of bureaucratic inertia, these RTI warriors have adopted a strategy of persistence.