Civil society should come together to hold Govt. accountable in Open Governance

By Himal Kotelawala

Civil society organisations as well the citizenry at large should hold the Government accountable in the event it fails to achieve the commitments made to the Open Government Partnership (OGP) which Sri Lanka is signatory to, Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL) Executive Director Asoka Obeyesekere said.

Speaking to Daily FT on the sidelines of a panel discussion held yesterday, organised by the TISL on the recently approved action plan for the OGP, Obeyesekere said that the 12 commitments as outlined in the multilateral initiative have very detailed specifics that the Government must adhere to.

“Within the 12 commitments, there are detailed milestones. The challenge is for citizens and civil society to hold the Government to account on these things when they don’t achieve them,” he said.

The 12 commitments of the OGP are in the following areas: health, education, information and communication technology, environment, local government, women, women in political governance, corruption and the right to information.

“For instance, with regard to the implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, there are very detailed specifics about by what dates different things need to be done. Similarly, on anti-corruption work, there are specifics on when they should pass amendments to asset declaration laws, etc., which will allow the public to disseminate those declarations,” explained Obeyesekere.

“These are all things that will only be effective when civil society and the public hold Government to account for not doing it on time,” he added.

When asked how civil society can hope to meet these challenges single-handedly, Obeyesekere said the various organisations should combine their individual strengths and come together.

“There are different civil society organisations with different skills. These organisations have to take some responsibility in holding Government to account. But it’s not only them, it’s the other organisations that also have an interest in these issues that really must start holding Government to account when it fails to deliver. Civil society has to realise that there is an opportunity to collaborate, but collaboration doesn’t mean co-option. That is a fine balance, and we must ensure that we hold Government to account whenever we can, and this is a very good opportunity to do so,” he said.

It’s important that different organisations, while their mandate may be in other areas, also have an interest in strengthening and pushing along commitments they’re not directly connected to, said Obeyesekere, adding that everything gets compartmentalised otherwise, which may not be the ideal course of action. “Having a technical interest in your specialty area is fine, but you should also have a broader view on all of the other open Government commitments,” he added.

Responding to a question about RTI covering political parties and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Obeyesekere said that political parties do not fall under RTI, but NGOs do, insofar as the work that they do is for a public service and is substantially funded by an international organisation or foreign Government.

“However, there is no definition as to what public service is or what substantially funded is,” he said.

A common concern with regard to RTI is the possibility of exemptions. Who determines what is or isn’t in the public interest?

According to Obeyesekere, it’s the information officer within a public authority that has to make that call.

“If the information officer says that it’s in public interest, it’s there. A lot of power is vested in that individual and so, to start with, it will be challenging to empower information officers, especially given the fact that the entire public service functions on a mentality that has been created through the Establishment Code, last revised in 1985,” he said.

An entire generation of public servants have come into the State sector with a mentality of not being open because the Establishment Code being deeply entrenched in the system, he added.

“These challenges will significantly be there, but they’re not insurmountable,” he said.