Info commission disappointedat poor response from NGOs
Friday, 25 March 2011
FE Report
Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Muhammad Zamir, former ambassador, said Thursday that non-government organisations (NGOs) have so far sent few designated officers' names to the Information Commission of Bangladesh (ICB) that created difficulties for the people in getting particular information. "Only 310 NGOs out of about 23 thousand have sent their designated officers' names to the commission. The number of government departments' designated officers is now about 6,700 who will provide information to the people," he said at a workshop in the capital. The CIC said the RTI Act- 2009, which was passed in Parliament on July 1, 2009, allows the designated officers to supply relevant information to the people. "It took about 19 months to get the designated officers' names of a leading NGO of the country. Those who claim themselves to be members of the civil society should have to maintain transparency, while dealing with others'," he said at the workshop on 'Challenges pertaining to the effective implementation of the Right to Information (RTI)' as the chief guest at the conference room of the LGED Bhaban at Agargaon. Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) organised the programme with Farooq Sobhan, president of the organisation, in the chair. Consulting editor of the Financial Express and former chief editor of the Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury presented the key-note paper, which was read out by Project Director (PD) of BEI Shahab Enam Khan as Mr Chowdhury could not attend the workshop. Secretary of the Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology Abdur Rob Howlader and Information Commissioner Muhammad Abu Taher were present. Underscoring the importance of the media's role in the successful implementation of the RTI, the CIC said, "There should be a column in the newspaper and a time should be allocated by the electronic media so that people could send their comments and suggestions on the RTI that could help us take necessary measures accordingly". Abdur Rob Howlader said democracy could not function without proper sharing of information. RTI should be viewed as a basic right of the people, if we want to see real democracy. "We are trying to deliver services to the grassroots level of the people. Once they have information, then there will be transparency and good governance," he said. "All the government departments now have their own websites and the government is trying to bring down the cost of internet connectivity at the grassroots level so that people could get the information on the activities of public and private offices," he added. With regard to the full implementation of the RTI process, he said: "The RTI touches every citizen. The private sector should come forward for initiating an innovative collaboration with the government to strengthen the function of the commission," he said. Muhammad Abu Taher said the commission has taken measures to organise programmes across the country to make the people aware of the right to information. "So far, out of 64, about 46 districts have already come under the activities of the commission. We have received 23 complaints from different sections of the people and we are working on it," he said. Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury said the RTI Act-2009 has been in place only for a short time and as such the usefulness of the law and its relevance to Bangladesh need to be detailed and more importantly, reach out to the people at large, who have great stakes in this for obvious reasons. "The RTI, which is an epoch-making development in Bangladesh aimed at serving the people in a democratic and transparent spirit, needs to be carefully implemented with great interest since the stakes are very high. At the initial stage, problems, confusion and even misgivings are likely to thwart the process. But it is important to take the RTI process to the zenith of success for the larger interest of the country and the people," he said. Farooq Sobhan said the public and private partnership is very important for the effective implementation of the RTI process.
Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) Muhammad Zamir, former ambassador, said Thursday that non-government organisations (NGOs) have so far sent few designated officers' names to the Information Commission of Bangladesh (ICB) that created difficulties for the people in getting particular information. "Only 310 NGOs out of about 23 thousand have sent their designated officers' names to the commission. The number of government departments' designated officers is now about 6,700 who will provide information to the people," he said at a workshop in the capital. The CIC said the RTI Act- 2009, which was passed in Parliament on July 1, 2009, allows the designated officers to supply relevant information to the people. "It took about 19 months to get the designated officers' names of a leading NGO of the country. Those who claim themselves to be members of the civil society should have to maintain transparency, while dealing with others'," he said at the workshop on 'Challenges pertaining to the effective implementation of the Right to Information (RTI)' as the chief guest at the conference room of the LGED Bhaban at Agargaon. Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) organised the programme with Farooq Sobhan, president of the organisation, in the chair. Consulting editor of the Financial Express and former chief editor of the Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury presented the key-note paper, which was read out by Project Director (PD) of BEI Shahab Enam Khan as Mr Chowdhury could not attend the workshop. Secretary of the Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology Abdur Rob Howlader and Information Commissioner Muhammad Abu Taher were present. Underscoring the importance of the media's role in the successful implementation of the RTI, the CIC said, "There should be a column in the newspaper and a time should be allocated by the electronic media so that people could send their comments and suggestions on the RTI that could help us take necessary measures accordingly". Abdur Rob Howlader said democracy could not function without proper sharing of information. RTI should be viewed as a basic right of the people, if we want to see real democracy. "We are trying to deliver services to the grassroots level of the people. Once they have information, then there will be transparency and good governance," he said. "All the government departments now have their own websites and the government is trying to bring down the cost of internet connectivity at the grassroots level so that people could get the information on the activities of public and private offices," he added. With regard to the full implementation of the RTI process, he said: "The RTI touches every citizen. The private sector should come forward for initiating an innovative collaboration with the government to strengthen the function of the commission," he said. Muhammad Abu Taher said the commission has taken measures to organise programmes across the country to make the people aware of the right to information. "So far, out of 64, about 46 districts have already come under the activities of the commission. We have received 23 complaints from different sections of the people and we are working on it," he said. Zaglul Ahmed Chowdhury said the RTI Act-2009 has been in place only for a short time and as such the usefulness of the law and its relevance to Bangladesh need to be detailed and more importantly, reach out to the people at large, who have great stakes in this for obvious reasons. "The RTI, which is an epoch-making development in Bangladesh aimed at serving the people in a democratic and transparent spirit, needs to be carefully implemented with great interest since the stakes are very high. At the initial stage, problems, confusion and even misgivings are likely to thwart the process. But it is important to take the RTI process to the zenith of success for the larger interest of the country and the people," he said. Farooq Sobhan said the public and private partnership is very important for the effective implementation of the RTI process.