• No results found

Enactment of Right to Information Act in Bangladesh

N/A
N/A
Protected

Academic year: 2020

Share "Enactment of Right to Information Act in Bangladesh"

Copied!
15
0
0

Loading.... (view fulltext now)

Full text

(1)

Enactment of Right to Information Act in BangladeshCommunity Arts Singapore: Framework for a Community Indicator System

ENACTMENT OF RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT IN

BANGLADESH: EXAMINING GOVERNANCE FACTOR

Md. Golam Rahman Tahmina Haque

I

n Bangladesh, the Right to Information Act, 2009 was enacted in National Assembly on 29 March, 2009, and came into effect on 1 July the same year. The right to information has been recognized as an important element of human rights by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,1948. This right also symbolizes Article 19(2) of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, of which Bangladesh was a signatory. There was no law specifically recognizing people’s right to information until the enactment of the Law in 2009. On the contrary, to the spirit of this law the Office Secrets Act, 1923 existed, expanding the tentacles with blanket coverage, depriving people’s right and access to information (Rahman, 2006).

In Bangladesh, there was no legal or constitutional provision, which specifically mentions the freedom of, or right to information. However, the absence of such a mention should not be taken as a negation of the right as the interpretation of Article 39(2) of the Constitution includes freedom of discussion and dissemination. Right to information is becoming the prime focus of democracy and good governance throughout the world, Bangladesh is not an exception (Rahman, 2006).

Most of the information seekers acknowledged that RTI Act was very timely with the governments “Digital Bangladesh” programme. But this law was not getting the priorities like the governments “Digital Bangladesh” programme. Often some officials do not intend to provide information easily. They think that if they supply information, it may tarnish their images and barred of doing corruption. For this reason, culture of secrecy has prevailed in our society and there is a tendency of hiding information from the people.

A seminar of journalists, NGO representatives, right activists, and knowledgeable citizens called on the people to forge a countrywide movement for immediate enactment of the Right to Information Act, The

(2)

The Journal of Development Communication

to include the issue in their election manifestos and work actively towards establishing the right to know. The draft law was made on the basis of a working paper on proposed Right To Information Act 2002 prepared by the Law Commission. Defining the ‘right to information’, the draft law says every person shall have the right to information held by or under the control of any public authority. It has been mentioned by Rahman, “The public authority shall maintain all its records and make available to any citizen requesting information from it and shall not withhold any information or limits its availability.” (Rahman, 2007: 23). The Commission recommended promulgating a law to make provisions for people’s right to have access and the registered NGOs, enable the people to hold the government accountable for redress of their grievances and to cast a duty on the government and NGOs to keep people informed proactively on issues important for their well-being. It has also been said that government could not justify elevation of secrecy into a state principle, and by transparency, we would understand open governance, not open files. Ensuring access to information would not only benefit the press and media but also ensure empowerment of the people as well as improve their livelihood (Rahman, 2007).

It has been observed that the presence of laws like the Official Secrets Acts and other measures for ‘national security’ severely conflict with the citizens’ right to information and have entrenched the culture of secrecy and reluctance on the part of public officials to provide with information. The Constitutions of South Asian countries have showed us logical initiatives and legitimacy to the struggles and movements for the right to information (Rahman, 2006).

Background of the Law

(3)

Enactment of Right to Information Act in Bangladesh

On the enactment of the RTI Act 2009 and establishment of the Information Commission (IC) the real challenge started how to ensure the access to information to the grass-root people in the country. People in general do not have the perception of information that could be beneficial to lead their livelihood. They also do not have adequate knowledge of the law so that they could pursue their right to information. They are poor, not educated and are not right conscious. These are the crude challenges in the way to have their right to exercise for information that might enhance the quality of their life. The culture of ‘hiding information’ and ‘not to share information’ is the common practices in most of the traditional societies and Bangladesh is not an exception.

Information and Governance Issue

To disclose corruption by the media professionals has been recognized for establishing accountable administration where Transparency International and other bodies are proactive. Several NGOs are facilitating public to seek information from government offices and other establishments in the country. Often those activities were found the results of motivation of the some development agencies or right based NGOs. Awareness of the law believed to be very low among the population that needed study to understand the rule of law and good governance. The limitations due to colonial legacy and inherited mindset of the designated information officers as well as archival systems of information in government offices create a restrictive environment of slow information service to the people who want them (Rahman in an interview, 2011).

TIB states “Ensuring Right to Information in Bangladesh: Role of the Media” presented at the roundtable discussion organized jointly by RTI Forum, CJA and MRDI on 26 September, 2012. Here, they discussed the context of RTI, why RTI law, RTI Act in good governance and control corruption, the act in international comparison, implementation challenges- stakeholders, media and RTI-conceptual linkages, media and RTI application, opportunities of media in RTI work. But this study did not give emphasis on media’s role (Iftekharuzzaman, 2012).

(4)

The Journal of Development Communication

MRDI shedding light by published success stories entitled “Right to Information: Making the Difference” and mentioned that information disclosures lead to empowerment. With people beginning to enjoy their right to information, they feel more empowered now than ever before. The enactment of RTI Act, voluntarily adoption of disclosure policies by more and more organizations and growing practices of people filling RTI applications asking for information – all these developments eventually are leading us to a society where people are better empowered. Series of intellectual brainstorming, trainings and exchanges, in fact, further sharpen the concept of freedom of information among the people and made them aware about exercising their rights (MRDI, n. d.).

Today, Right to Information (RTI) is believed to be the pre-requisite of sustainable development and transparent governance. This study is an attempt to identify the relations of RTI Act with ensuring good governance in Bangladesh. This study does not intend to draw a mere conclusion whether RTI Act ensuring good governance or not. Hence, it covers what are the visible changes in good governance after passing RTI Act. Yet, Bangladesh is trying to bring transparency in different sectors to fight against corruption.

However, this study is expected to contribute to the effective implementation of RTI Act in context of Bangladesh. Also the implications of this research may open the door for further study on this. Therefore, all the above discussions inclined the researcher to do the study on the role of RTI Act in ensuring good governance where the research objective is to understand the role of RTI Act in ensuring good governance.

Sweden is the first country who has enacted right to information law in 1766 under the name of “Freedom of the Press Act”. To cross the Atlantic Ocean it took 200 years and to come in USA was 1966 as “Freedom of Information Act”. Australia adopted the law as ‘Freedom of Information Actî in 1982 and United Kingdom adopted the law in 2008. The Republic of Korea is the first country in Asia to introduce the law as “Act of Disclosure of Information” in 1996 (Sarkar, 2010). More than 90 countries adopted this law in the world (Zamir, 2010).

(5)

Enactment of Right to Information Act in Bangladesh

reasons they could not implement this. Bhutan, Afghanistan and Maldives are still in silence. In this region, India is the pioneer to adopt the law, in the form of ordinance in 2002 and as an Act “Right to Information Act” in 2005 (Sarkar, 2010).

Rationale of the Study

Information is crucial for good governance as it reflects and captures government activities and processes. In a democracy, information is regarded as oxygen. If people do not know what is happening in their society, if the actions of those who rule them are hidden, then they cannot take a meaningful part in the affairs of the society. Access to information not only promotes openness, transparency and accountability in administration, but also facilitates active participation of people in the democratic governance process.

So, no doubt that there is a direct relationship exists between right to information and good governance. For Right to Information (RTI) Act to achieve its purpose, the public should have free access to government information which provides them the opportunity of being informed of what the government does for them, why and how it does it. Good governance provides a platform that enables the government to operate efficiently, effectively and transparently and to be accountable to the public. It aims to put an end to inconsistent practices of the government and help in establishing a responsive State. Public participation in government, respect for the rule of law, freedom of expression and association, transparency and accountability, legitimacy of government, and the like which are the core values of good governance, can be realized only if the right to information is implemented in the right spirit.

(6)

The Journal of Development Communication

(Hasan, 2011). In addition, one of the objectives of Right to Information Act is establishing good governance (Information Commission of Bangladesh Annual Report, 2010).

Objective and Research Questions

The main objective of current research is to understand the role of Right to Information (RTI) Act in ensuring good governance.

From the above-mentioned objective following Research Questions (RQ) have been formulated:

RQ 1. What are the visible changes seen in governance after implementation of Right to Information (RTI) Act?

RQ 2. What role does RTI Act play to ensure good governance at the institutional level?

Methodology

To understand the perception of respondents a survey was carried out; case studies were done; and in-depth interviews (IDI) were pursued. In order to collect information on the topic and to find out the answers of the research questions, semi-structured questionnaire was first developed in Bangla and then translated into English. After pre-testing of questionnaire, final data collections have been done. To get a complete picture on the issue critical analyses were done on quantitative and qualitative method. Respondents, numbering 150 from Dhaka city were chosen from 11 categories of government and non-government officials and employees including engineers, lawyers, doctors, nurses, police, teachers, media professionals, and homemakers. Three in-depth interviews were conducted and they were the Chief and two other Commissioners of the Information Commission of Bangladesh.

Findings and Discussions

(7)
(8)
(9)

Enactment of Right to Information Act in Bangladesh

About 45 per cent respondents identified the ‘access to information’ has ‘increased to some extent’ and 31 per cent denoted ‘increased remarkably’. Other 18 per cent respondents assumed that access to information ‘increased not that much’ they expected. A small percentage mentioned that they have seen ‘no changes’ in access to information. (Figure: 4)

Table 1

Benefits on Enactment of Right to Information Act and Behavioral Changes of the Respondents

Components Enough changes % (n)

Some changes % (n)

No changes % (n)

Total % (n)

Got legal recognition 36.1 (13) 27.8 (10) 36.1 (13) 100 (36)

Ethical support to ask

and get information 17.5 (7) 35.0 (14) 47.5 (19) 100 (40)

Easier to get access

to information 29.4 (5) 47.1 (8) 23.5 (4) 100 (17)

Creates demand for information to improve living standard

44.4 (4) 33.3 (3) 22.2 (2) 100 (9)

Increase tendency of

asking information 23.1 (6) 42.3 (11) 34.6 (9) 100 (26)

Opportunities to exercise the rights independently to gather and disclose information

37.5 (6) 50.0 (8) 12.5 (2) 100 (16)

Not benefited 16.7 (1) 50.0 (3) 33.3 (2) 100 (6)

(10)

The Journal of Development Communication

information, but they had not seen any changes in employees’ behaviors. Among who thought there was “easier to get access to information” about 47 per cent of them observed “some changes’” in behavior. About 44 per cent respondents who thought “creates demand for information to improve living standard” also observed “enough changes” in their behavior. The respondents who thought there was ‘increase tendency of asking informationî about 42.3 per cent of them perceived “some changes” in their behavior. Among the respondents who thought there was “opportunities to exercise the rights independently to gather and disclose information” about 50 per cent of them perceived “some changes” in their behavior (Table 1).

Table 2

Access to information and Role of Right to Information Act in Good Governance

Access to Information

Role of Right to Information Act in Good Governance

Playing significant role

% (n)

Playing moderate role

% (n)

Playing no role % (n)

No comment

% (n)

Total

% (n)

Increases remarkably 42.6 (20) 40.4 (19) 12.8 (6) 4.3 (2) 100 (47)

Increases to some

extent 11.8 (8) 52.9 (36) 29.4 (20) 5.9 (4) 100 (68)

Not much increase 18.5 (5) 33.3 (9) 33.3 (9) 14.8 (4) 100 (27)

No Changes –– 37.5 (3) 62.5 (5) –– 100 (8)

(11)

Enactment of Right to Information Act in Bangladesh

Analysis on In-depth Interview: Opinions of the Members of

Information Commission

The fundamental objective of Right to Information (RTI) Act was transparency and accountability in the public administration and financial management. Other goal of RTI Act was reduction of corruption of a country and establishment of good governance. When good governance would be established, sustainable democracy would take place and eventually welfare of a state would be affirmed. Aiming to that opinions of the members of the Information Commission were sought and stated below.

The Chief of the Information Commission of Bangladesh (ICB) Mohammad Faruk thought that Bangladesh has 42 years of its independence and after the independence, we could not develop much to our economic growth, but recently we have increased our economic growth. Like this, RTI Act is only started its journey and its outcome will not be seen in overnight. He stated that people are now entering the information arena.

Another Member of the Commission Dr. Sadeka Halim stated that after the enactment of RTI Act, there were not enough changes seen in public administration, it was working on a sluggish style. She stressed that transparency and accountability was being ensured by accusation of complaints and verdicts in Information Commission, but the defected complaints should not be omitted. She also thought that this was very tough to work out or the applicant would be deprived of one’s right to information. She acknowledged the challenges and stated that facing all these realities, implementation of RTI Act was an up-hill task. She opined that the Act which had been making clashes with other Act should be repealed.

Dr. Halim stated that now government organizations have begun to give information. People entered in a culture of openness. She also thought that ICB needed to be expanded in a wide range through various means of communication like radio, TV, newspaper, billboard, popular theatre etc. The main aim was to ensure the access of information an all primary levels.

(12)

The Journal of Development Communication

Information Commission of Bangladesh needs to go for large scale awareness through various mechanisms like radio, TV, newspaper, billboard, popular theatre ensuring access to information at the grassroots. But it can be concluded that now people are entering a culture of openness which will bring a difference in the future. A seed of hope has been implanted which may flourish with time and space.

Case Study 1:

Information on Wage Earner’s Welfare Fund by a journalist

Several cases of deprivation of information were accounted amongst whom two are discussed here. A journalist (original name omitted) of The Daily Star applied for information from the Bureau of Manpower Employment’s “Wage Earner’s Welfare Fund” for all kinds of transaction, deeds of account books, transaction letter between government/non-government organizations and deeds of all the projects etc. taken under this fund. He wanted relevant information before the enactment of the RTI Act and later he applied to the Secretary of Immigrant Welfare and Foreign Employment Department. Three days later, he got an email from him and conveyed the message that this is not possible to provide the required information. They showed the reason that it was directly supervised by Bureau of Manpower Employment. These types of information were stored by Bureau of Manpower Employment’s Department. They had appointed a responsible person. The reporter was asked to apply here. But the responsible person showed him various types of reason and at last he was disappeared.

Then, the journalist informed this story by email to the Director General (DG). After one week, the DG informed the respondent that he did not get any email from him. The DG gave him a light of hope over phone day by day. But there was no result. Then the respondent went physically to the DG in 2011. But the DG refused to sign in the application form and it suffered the respondent in further processing. Then he came to the Director and he told him that his information was not specific which they could provide. The reporter then specifically applied again, six months elapsed, but he still waits for information.

Case Study 2:

Information on Overseas Employment and Services by a migrant worker

(13)

Enactment of Right to Information Act in Bangladesh

The applicant had a small business. He passed H.S.C. exam four years back. He had been trying to do something better for his family. Meanwhile, he came to know about the work opportunity in Kuwait from one of his relatives. He was very keen to go abroad for a better job.

The person communicated with a middleman (broker) of human resource business, who demanded BDT 400,000 (US $ 5,250) to send him to Kuwait. The respondent agreed by his demand, but he was not getting any confidence to give him the money. Few days later, he came to BOESEL to get that information.

Arman contacted with the Information Officer about his job security and the activities of Bangladesh High Commission in Kuwait. He also tried to know the government policy of exporting man-power in Kuwait. The information officer of BOESEL told him to come after two or three days. He went there again, but the officer refused him to give any information. He became frustrated and felt insecured about his job and money. Hence, considering the poor condition of his family and of allurement he gave money to the broker after selling some of his land and properties. He went to Kuwait with a dream to help his family a with better future. But, his dreams shattered after realizing that he was cheated by that broker. In Kuwait he was treated as an illegal immigrant without any job. He was at last, after too much of suffering, returned to Bangladesh. Now he is poorer than he was before. He questioned himself, who is liable for his condition now? Is it his bad luck or the authorities who did not provide with proper information?

(14)

The Journal of Development Communication

Conclusion

The objective of RTI Act is to ensure transparency as well as accountability by providing information in the country. Large number of respondents perceived of ensuring transparency and accountability just because of access to information of service providing office for the betterment of life. In the study it has been evident that the benefit of RTI Act was positive and people are getting ethical support to ask for information that ensures good governance and transparency in public administration. Access to information has been “increased to some extent”. On the other hand, a few cases of refusal of information posed a challenge to good governance and rule of law. In some offices, officers and staff do not abide by the law because of their behavioral constraints even after the enactment of RTI Act.

In the beginning, Information Commission of Bangladesh did a good job in ensuring/obtaining the necessary government support for the setting up of a functioning the Commission with the necessary kit, including infrastructure, office space, equipment, staff, website etc. It also undertook extensive awareness building activities. To break the culture of secrecy and reluctance to disclose information, proactive disclosure of information is much more needed. Information Commission of Bangladesh (ICB) should not only confine in disposal of complaints rather than creating awareness among people in general. Though ICB is now facing some financial and implementation casualties. Information Commission of Bangladesh has some initiatives to raise awareness among people.

Most of the information seekers acknowledged that RTI Act was very timely with the governments “Digital Bangladesh” programme. But this law was not getting the priorities like the governments “Digital Bangladesh” programme. Often some officials do not intend to provide information easily. They think that if they supply information, it may tarnish their images and barred of doing corruption. For this reason, culture of secrecy has prevailed in our society and there is a tendency of hiding information from the people.

(15)

Enactment of Right to Information Act in Bangladesh

References

Hasan, M. (2011). Right to Information-a Powerful Social Accountability Tool;Affiliated Network for Social Accountability_South Asia Region. Dhaka : Institute of Governance Studies. Hunt, G. (2000). James Madison to W.T. Barry, Epilogue: Securing the Republic:

http://press pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/documents/v1ch18s35.html (Retrieved August 3, 2013).

Iftekharuzzaman. (2012). Ensuring Right to Information in Bangladesh: Role of the Media. Transparency International Bangladesh.

Information Commission of Bangladesh Annual Report. (2010). Information Commission of Bangladesh Annual Report. Dhaka: Information Communication of Bangladesh.

MRDI. (n.d.). Right to Information: Making the Difference. Dhaka: MRDI.

Rahman, Dr. M. Golam (2011). (Interviewed), International Right to Information Day 2011

(Publication), Dhaka: Mass-line Media Centre, pp. 68-71.

Rahman, M. Golam (2007). “Right to Information in South Asian Countries: Way to Improve People’s Livelihood”, Right to Information Day 2007, Mir Shahidul Alam (Ed.), Dhaka: Mass-line Media Centre.

Rahman, M. Golam (2006). ìRight to Information in South Asian Countriesî, published in a supplement on International Right to Information Day, The Daily Star, 28 September. Sarkar, N. (2010). “Right to Information Act, 2009, an instrument to increase transparency and

accountability for reducing corruption and establishing good governance”, Information Commission of Bangladesh Annual Report 2010, Dhaka: Information Commission of Bangladesh.

The Daily Star (2006). 24 August.

Uddin, A. (2010). Impact of Good Governance on Development in Bangladesh: A Study. Roskilde. Denmark: Institute of Society and Globalization.

Zamir, M. (2010). “Consolidation of Rights through the Right to Information Act, 2009”,

Information Commission of Bangladesh Annual Report 2010, Dhaka: Information Commission of Bangladesh.

Md. Golam Rahman, PhD, is a Professor and former Chairman of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, University of Dhaka, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh.

Tahmina Haque, Newsroom Editor at Channel 24, a private television station in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Figure

Table 1Benefits on Enactment of Right to Information Act and
Table 2

References

Related documents

Allo-HSCT: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; ANSM: French National Health Authorities; ASPEN: American society of enteral and parenteral nutrition; EN:

Recently, we reported that the activity of cAMP-dependent protein kinase A (PKA) is de- creased in the frontal cortex of subjects with regres- sive autism

In our project, we reduce the unused torque in our two-wheeler by reducing the diameter and tooth counts of the rear wheel sprocket in the two-wheeler to improve

19% serve a county. Fourteen per cent of the centers provide service for adjoining states in addition to the states in which they are located; usually these adjoining states have

To verify the regions of diversity (L 2 -D hy- brids), single amplicons of these regions (the tarp gene, incA , hctB , and toxin locus genes; the IGR upstream of ftsK ) that

It was decided that with the presence of such significant red flag signs that she should undergo advanced imaging, in this case an MRI, that revealed an underlying malignancy, which

One in two smokers were found to have airflow limitation; the predictors were Indian ethnicity, prolonged smoking pack-year history and Lung Function Questionnaire score ≤

Moreover there are different types of negation patterns that express negation (simple negation markers, complex negation markers and expressions not containing any negation marker)