Media organisations urge President Disanayake to strengthen RTI Commission

A host of media organisations have urged President Anura Kumara Disanayake to strengthen the Right to Information (RTI) Commission.

They have sent an urgent letter to the President, calling for immediate action to address critical issues impacting on the institutional integrity of the Right to Information (RTI) Commission. 

The organisations are Sri Lanka Press Institute, its Constituents Newspaper Society of Sri Lanka, The Editors’ Guild of Sri Lanka, the Free Media Movement, the Sri Lanka Working Journalists Association, and its affiliated organisations, Sri Lanka Muslim Media Forum, Tamil Media Alliance, the Federation of Media Trade Union Employees and the South Asia Federation of Media Alliance 

In their letter, dated 18 June 2025, the media organisations emphasised that the RTI Act No. 12 of 2016 stands as one of the most crucial mechanisms for achieving transparency and accountability in Sri Lanka, empowering citizens and fostering a more democratic society. A robust RTI Commission is indispensable for upholding the public’s right to information, which has been vigorously exercised by Sri Lankans to expose corruption, improve community lives, and counter injustice.

The organisations highlighted several pressing concerns. The RTI Commission is currently significantly hampered by the absence of a duly appointed Chairperson, a crucial leadership position that remains vacant following the resignation of the previous chair on 4 March 2025. This leadership vacuum severely impacts the Commission’s ability to conduct its operations and make timely decisions, impeding its effectiveness. Adding to these concerns is the alarming delay by the Government to approve the recruitment of essential legal staff required for the Commission, which has been handling its extensive appeals work with a single legal officer. 

This delay has occurred despite the Commission conveying several urgent requests for additional legal staff to the Presidential Secretariat and relevant State agencies from early 2024. This delay amounts to the undermining of pivotal provisions of the RTI Act guaranteeing institutional independence, notably Section 13, which empowers the Commission to recruit its own staff in direct consultation with the Minister of Finance without intervention by any other line Ministry. Additionally, Section 16 compulsorily necessitates the Commission to operate an independent fund into which budgeted moneys “shall” be released, which has been negatively impacted as a result of the RTI Commission not being awarded an independent line item in the National Budget. The Commission’s capacity to build its necessary human resources structure has therefore remained severely constrained, with the result that, nine years after its establishment, it has been brought to the point of severe institutional disfunction.

The media organisations also stressed that these deficiencies collectively undermine the very purpose of the RTI Act and compromise the public’s access to timely and accurate information. They urged President Dissanayake to expedite the appointment of a Chairperson to fill this critical vacancy within the Commission. Concurrently, they appealed for immediate action to fully implement Sections 13 and 16 of the RTI Act, thereby enabling the prompt recruitment of necessary personnel and empowering the institutional capacity of an important governance oversight body. “Strengthening the Right to Information Commission is not merely an administrative necessity; it is a fundamental step towards realising your commitment to good governance, promoting transparency, and deepening democratic values in Sri Lanka,” the letter to President stated. The organisations believe that decisive leadership on this matter will demonstrate a tangible commitment to empowering citizens and building a more open and accountable Government.