People need to be made aware of RTI

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THE government deserves appreciation for approving, at long last, the right to information ordinance. This law was demanded for long in the interest of good governance in the country. But the political governments had only been evasive in this regard.
So we would now expect that the right to information (RTI), coming into effect after a presidential promulgation, would facilitate the people to get information from the government offices in time. Or, would it not?
The ordinance stipulates that the people can get information in 20 days in an emergency when a person faces life-and-death situation or seeks release from jail in 24 hours. The officials concerned might face fine up to Tk 5000 for delays in providing the information sought.
In many countries, the RTI has successfully been implemented. The Scandinavian countries provides the best examples. It is now necessary to make the people aware about the law and the benefits they can get out of it.
It is important because before the people get to know about the benefits of a law, the law breakers know its loopholes to misuse it. So making people aware of the law is now the most important task for the government to ensure the enforcement of the law.

K Samsuzzaman
Mohakhali DOHS, Dhaka