Right to Information Act shortly: CA

FE Team | Published: December 06, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00

Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed Wednesday said his government wants to offer the nation the Right to Information Act shortly, as the draft law is being readied to take effect, reports UNB
He hoped that the Information and Law Ministries would take next steps "soon" to make the draft Act effective.
The head of the caretaker government expressed the optimism inaugurating the convention on "Right to Information for a Democratic and Corruption-Free Bangladesh" organized by Manusher Jonno Foundation at Hotel Sheraton.
Law and Information Adviser Barrister Mainul Hosein, former Adviser and executive director of Ain-O-Salish Kendro Sultana Kamal and executive director of Manusher Jonno Foundation (MJF) Shaheen Anam also spoke at the inaugural function presided over by former Adviser and chairperson of MJF Syed Manjur Elahi.
Dr Shamsul Bari, chairman of the Research Institute of Bangladesh, presented a keynote paper at the convention.
Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin said the present government is carrying out efforts relentlessly to establish good governance in the country.
"There is no difference of opinion and it is my belief that free flow of information plays an important role in building up a transparent and accountable administrative structure."
He noted that a specific law for establishing Right to Information (RTI) has been a longstanding demand. The Law Commission has prepared a working paper on the Right to Information Act, and after gathering opinions of civil society on the draft paper, a draft of the RTI Act has already been sent to the Law and Information Ministries.
The Chief Adviser said people can be certain about the timeframe and quality of services if the public and private service-providing organizations provide them information about their services. Besides, the scope for corruption also diminishes if people have correct information about the delivered services.
"The scope of corruption decreases manifold if the beneficiaries, processes and procedure of obtaining services etc are specifically mentioned in the service-oriented projects taken by the government at central and local level and those are published through 'Citizens Charter'," he told the function.
Dr Fakhruddin said free flow of information acts as a driving-force in democracy and good governance.
"It has been generally observed that there is a direct linkage between flow of information and socioeconomic development. The easier the availability of information in a state the higher is its stage of development. On the other hand, underdevelopment is directly related to corruption," he observed.
He said generally the level of development of a country is lower if the incidence of corruption is higher and the status of many developed and underdeveloped countries of the world bear witness to this correlation.
Law Adviser Barrister Mainul said the present government would promulgate the Right to Information Act but it would need approval of Parliament for the permanence of the Act, "Journalists and the civil society will have to play a strong role in ensuring the approval."
He said before passing the RTI Act they have to consider to what extent various government departments can disseminate necessary information with responsibility if the Act is passed.
"It is easy to formulate law but it is very important to attain proper application power for getting the fruits of the law," said the Law Adviser of the caretaker government.
In his keynote speech, Dr Shamsul Bari said Right to Information is information that the government has and people want to know but government does not want to give.
He said RTI relates to process, inner working process and thinking of government.
The governments work on the basis of 'Need to Know' instead of 'Right to Know', making people subject. But people don't want to remain subject any longer but as citizens of Bangladesh, he observed.
The RTI Act is there in 75 countries, including India, and those countries got it after a great deal of people's movement and campaign. "RTI is the mother of all rights of people," Dr Bari said.
Executive director of Manusher Jonno Shaheen Anam said they believe that RTI would become a reality and thanked the Chief Adviser for his government's commitment to this end.
"It is now a time to strengthen democracy and good governance in Bangladesh," she told the function.
She said general people would be empowered and people would have confidence in the governance if there was RTI.
Distinguished personalities and representatives of development partners were among others present at the function.