By The Numbers
Right to information
Academicians, politicians, journalists and civil society members, at a discussion held on September 30, called for creating mass awareness and involving marginal people in formulating the right to information act. The discussion, titled "People's ownership on public information: Bridging strategy," was arranged to mark the Right to Information Day that was observed on September 28 all across the world.
Six major NGOs, including Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB), have drawn up one-and-a-half-month countrywide programs to observe the day with a view to promoting the right to information as a fundamental right, and reiterating the demand for enactment of a law protecting the right.
Certainly, such a campaign bears significance for a country like Bangladesh, where people are struggling to strike a balance between administrative transparency and accountability and their access to information.
The right to information became a fundamental human right with the passing of a law known as the "Freedom of Information Act" by the US Congress in 1966. Britain was first promised, in 1974, by the then Labour government, the enactment of a freedom of information law. But it took more than a quarter of a century to reach the statute book, and a further four years to come fully into force in 2005. Most of the central government departments in Britain are now well geared up with a mass of easily accessible information already on their web-sites.
According to Britain's freedom of information laws, anyone of any nationality, living anywhere in the world, may request for information held by more than one hundred thousand public authorities and other designated non-governmental organisations in Britain, and expect an answer within 20 working days, usually free of charge.
There are, of course, exemptions. Any information relating to national security, most personal data, court records, information subject to parliamentary or legal privilege, and information likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs is subject to an "absolute" exemption that cannot be overridden.
The independent information commission set by the act has made it clear that aggrieved members of the public can seek enforcement of their "right to know" only through it. It is now considered as a criminal offence in Britain to destroy data for which a valid request has been made under the act.
The civil right groups in Britain are, nevertheless, worried at the right of the ministerial veto included in the act, which could be used to block any information deemed too politically embarrassing or sensitive to any government.
It is worth mentioning here that in New Zealand, on whose freedom of information legislation Britain's act is closely modeled, the ministerial veto has not been used once in the 18 years since the present system was brought into to force.
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) report 2003, titled "Open Sesame," called for enactment of laws to ensure liberal access to information in all Commonwealth countries by 2005, and ensure effective access to information.
Bangladesh was in the list of 12 Commonwealth countries without the right to information laws, and the habit of secrecy is sapping away the economic lifeblood of the nation. The CHRI report also said that the remaining 42 of the 54 members of the Commonwealth either have specific laws guaranteeing access to information or explicit constitutional guarantees.
In Bangladesh, where democratic governments had been in power since 1991, there are some laws in force that are antithetic to the right of access to information. The Official Secrets Act (1923), the Evidence Act (1872), the Code of Criminal Procedure (1960), the Rules of Business (1996), and the Government Servants (Conduct) Rules (1979), are such restricting laws that are being imposed by the government to curtail people's right to information.
These laws should be repealed, as they are major obstacles to transparency and accountability of any government, and also breed corruption that has taken root in the society.
Despite an abundance of advocacy and citizen groups in Bangladesh, the lack of right to information has consigned the country and its people to an abject ignorance about the government functionaries. The constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech and expression of every citizen has become useless in the absence of the right to information.
The Right to Information Act, drafted by the Bangladesh Law Commission in 2002, has been lying in cold storage for the last five years. Manusher Jonno Foundation, an NGO, prepared a draft law on the basis of the working papers of the Law Commission and submitted it to the Law Ministry. The draft of the Right to Information Act should be widely circulated for seeking public opinion.
No fewer than 75 countries, including India, Pakistan, and Nepal, have since introduced right to information laws under different heads. According to the CHRI report, the countries with access to information laws are perceived to be the least corrupt. Eight countries out of ten, scoring the best in the TI's 2002 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), have effective laws that enable the people to see government files. On the other hand, of the ten countries scoring the worst, not even one has access to information laws. After introducing the right to information laws in October 2005, India has greatly improved its CPI.
The people of Bangladesh are longing for right to information laws, and want the caretaker government (CTG) to take effective steps for enacting the laws. The successive political governments did not make such laws as the vested interest groups had always influenced them with a view to keeping their misdeeds hidden in the dark.
The CTG is also dealing with a number of policy matters of great national interest. So, there is no justification for it to skip the enactment of the right to information laws, as it is committed to restore democracy and wipe out corruption. Enactment of laws to ensure people's right to information will eventually give democracy a real spirit, and also improve the country's CPI.
The right to information is a cardinal factor in good governance, and the whole mechanism of governance in the country has been vitiated owing to its absence. Right to information is also considered as an effective tool to safeguard against breeding of corruption, which has been sapping the country's economic lifeblood. So, the CTG should not hesitate in enacting the right to information laws on the plea that it is not under its jurisdiction.
A. N. M. Nurul Haque is a columnist of The Daily Star.
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