Grassroots RTI

The Government is reportedly taking steps to amend over 110 Acts to comply with the Right to Information (RTI) Act introduced in February this year. This is a welcome move, indeed. Director of Information Dr. Ranga Kalansooriya has said that these Acts will need to be amended as the RTI supersedes all. 

So far the Government has used a trial and error policy in implementing the RTI Act since it came into force on Independence Day, and this seems to be working well for the most part.  A separate unit has been set up at the Media Ministry to review all legislation which does not comply with the RTI, with amendments expected to be introduced once reviews are completed.

The public has become increasingly aware of the benefits of the new regulations, and a trend has been observed in putting it into practice, the Minister in charge of the subject recently told the media. While this may be true an extent – a little optimism is not a bad thing – it’s still early days, and both State and civil society actors can do a lot more to take the message of RTI to the public – particularly at the grassroots level.

More resources, therefore, are needed to educate public servants to open up State information and also use it as a means to protect themselves from politicised decisions.

Corruption watchdog Transparency International Sri Lanka filed public interest RTI applications at six public authorities as the Act came into force, including one application at the Presidential Secretariat requesting information about the President’s asset declaration. TISL also made applications at the Employees’ Provident Fund, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Land Reform Commission, the Elections Commission, the Ministry of Health and the Department of Customs. At the Elections Commission, TISL requested financial reports of registered political parties.

More recently, financial records of a number of political parties obtained from the Elections Commissioner through an RTI request put forward by TISL revealed that the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is the most “financially secure and asset rich” party in Sri Lanka.

These are, needless to say, invaluable dividends of implementing the RTI. However, for RTI to be truly effective, all members of the public from all walks of life – and not just organisations with sociopolitical acumen – need to know how they can put it good use.

Thankfully, some people are already finding unique ways to use the legislation. Twelve women filed applications at government offices in Batticaloa in February seeking information about family members who went missing during the war. It was a remarkable effort to use RTI to push for answers about the disappeared.

Assisted by a community worker in the area, the women attempted to file applications under the RTI Act as it came into effect last Friday (3) at the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, the Prisons Department, the Kachcheri or District Secretariat and the office of the Eastern Province DIG and the office of the Batticaloa DIG, all situated in the eastern town of Batticaloa.

It is hoped that this momentum continues and society and polity become more and more open.