Right to Information: Strengthening the Local Government through Citizen’s Participation

Aliur Rahman*

Abstract

Information is the pivotal component of human communication and the right to access of

informationis considered as the touchstone of all sorts of freedom. According to the universal

declaration of human rights, the right to information (RTI) is a fundamental human right which

in fact underpins all other human rights. Right to information plays an important role and at the

same time RTI is being creating conducive role in social life for consistence of democracy,

governance and human rights. Participatory democracy cannot flourish if governments operate

in secrecy, no matter how much open discussion and debate is allowed. Therefore, the right to

access of information is the basic pillar to the democratic way of life. This right empowers the

citizen regarding the right to seek, receive and impart information according to the national and

international legal recognition. Coping with the world trends, at present the implementation

process of RTI Act in Bangladesh has stepped in its fifth year; but the qualitative

progressconcerning the participatory local governance, expected opportunities and advantages

for implementing this pro-people Act are not perceived in right context. In the process of

implementing RTI Act how much it is helpful to widen the hopes and aspiration of the citizen and

to what extent the Act is contributing to create an enabling environment for ensuring the good

governance and accountability within the framework of local governance have been analyzed in

this article. Above all, it is observed that the RTI Act is being considered as the most useful tool

to promote participatory democracy which is contributing to strengthen the local government as

well as e-government through citizens’ participation to achieve the desired goals.

1. Freedom of Information:A Right to Know

Freedom of thinking together with access to the world of information is conceived as a

fundamental right of every human being. In other words, right to know is the focal component

for upholding other basic rights - for furthering governance, social justice and development in

any society. Civilized societies in the world, therefore, put freedom of gathering information and

knowledge above all other rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, therefore,

incorporates that “everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right

includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart

information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”.James Madisonemphasized

that knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own

governors, must arm themselves with the power of knowledge. The English rebel poet John

Milton of the seventeenth century cited in his speech, “give me liberty to know, to utter, and to

argue freely according to my conscience, above all liberties” (Milton, 1644: 44).

In a democratic society, freedom of information and right to know is the key concern and it is

considered as the primary indicator to achieve the participatory democracy and basic human

___________________ *President and Principal, Institute of Innovative Media & E-Journalism (IIMEJ), Dhaka

rights. People are the real owner of their state. In the context of Bangladesh, it is clearly stated in

the constitution that the people is the source of all power. For that reason, people in the

countrybear in mind thatdemocracy is „of the people, by the people, for the people‟ as it was

dreamt during the struggle for independence. But after passing the four decades of independence,

perhaps it is not irrelevant to ask how far this dream and aspiration of the owners of the republic

has been fulfilled, particularly in respect of fulfilling people‟s desire and aspiration for achieving

freedom of expression and participation in the development process (Rahman, 2013: 20).

Perhaps, the time has come for self-criticism by every conscious people of the country. In order

to uplift the country as an independent and dignified nation for keeping meaningful and

upholding the achievement of our independence, we have to show our best competence and

skillin disseminating different branches of knowledge and information to the people at large. It

may be relevant to cite here the famous quote of James Madison (1751-1836), one of the

Founding Fathers of the United States of America: “A popular government without popular

information or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy or perhaps

both” (Democracy Web).

1. Why Freedom of Information?

Freedom of information means the protection of freedom of speech as a right. It includes not

only the content, but also the means of expression. It directly leads the citizens‟ rightsto freedom

of opinion and expression and the authorities‟ responsibilities to inform the citizens all those

types of content and information which are related to influence their lives. In other

words,freedom of information means the freedom for the news and other media. In broad

perspective,freedom of information is an extension of freedom of speech, a fundamental human

right recognized in international law. Now-a-days,it is understood more generally as freedom of

expression in any medium: be it orally, in writing, print, through the Internet or through art

forms. Obstacle of accessing the individual‟s right to information means to make hindrance for

the freedom of news media (Puddephatt, 2005: 12).

Freedom of information can bring an inconceivable success to build up a transparent and healthy

knowledge society. It is utmost necessary to enhance the freedom of information forredressing

the mistrust, indignityand human crisis from the society. Free flow of information is very much

helpful to reduce corruption and can promote towards an answerable public administration. In a

democratic culture freedom of information and accountability are two fundamental preconditions

or means for exercising the rights to the citizen. It is not possible to assure the peoples‟ rights

and access to information by the government or the powerful authorities beyond showing the

personal respect to the citizens.

During the current days, freedom of information is considered as an absolute achievement than

any other achievement of their lives among the independent and conscious citizens in any

civilized nation with democratic governments. The „World Index‟ on freedom of information

gives us a status of individual countries in the world. For example, the following table shows that

as a new member among one hundred countries that have enacted RTI Act for their citizens,

Bangladesh ranged at 15 among 89 countries to show its overall ranking position, Bangladesh

got 110 points out of 150.

Ranking

Position

Country Date Right of

Access

Scope Requesting

Procedures

Exceptions

and Refusals

Appeals Sanctions

and

Protections

Promotional

Measurers Total

15 Bang-

ladesh 2008 2 25 18 20 24 6 15 110

Source: Global Right to Information Rating, Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD), Country Data 2013

In the eve of enacting Right to Information (RTI) Act in Bangladesh, a research (2007) was

conducted on „Access to Information and Right to Communication‟ among the people of

different administrative divisions. The findings show that 74 percent respondents were aware

that information dissemination for communication is a fundamental right. The same research also

revealed that 71 percent respondents opined that information is needed for knowing the

surrounding lives and environment. Forty six percent expressed that acquiring knowledge also

needs self-awareness of the citizens (Rahman, 2007). Right to information and knowledge are

not a matter of meeting sudden demandin a limited area, rather it is considered as a universal

right of all citizens for all the time.

2. What is RTI and Why is It so Important?

Information is the key component of human communications and right to information is the heart

of human rights. In a word, the right to access information underpins all other human rights.

Again, we can say that RTI consists of supplementary and complementary elements of other

rights. Therefore, the right to access information is the basic pillar to the democratic way of life.

Lack of information denies people the opportunity to develop their potential to the fullest and

realise the full range of their human rights. Individual personality, political and social identity

and economic capability are all shaped by the information that is available to each person and to

the society at large. The practice of routinely holding information away from the public creates

„subjects‟ rather than „citizens‟ and is a violation of their rights (Vahini, 2013).

The right of access to information is not the right for any particular class and this right is for

mass people. This right is the right of world human. In other words, the information sought,

found and being an integral part of information is the civil right as well as human right -

recognized as fundamental rights.

RTI was recognized as a fundamental right by the United Nations at its very inception in 1946,

when the General Assembly resolved: “Freedom of Information is a fundamental human right

and the touchstone for all freedoms to which the United Nations is concentrated”. Enshrined in

the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the right‟s status as a legally binding treaty

obligation was affirmed in Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

which states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes

freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and

ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers” This has placed the right to access

information firmly within the body of universal human rights law (Ibid, Para 2).

Therefore, according to the national and international legal recognition, RTI refers to the right of

every citizen to access information held by or under the control of public authorities. This right

holds within it the right to seek information, as well as the duty to give information, to store,

organize, and make it easily available, and to withhold it only when it is proven that this is in the

best public interest.

As an owner of the state every citizen has the right to know the information. And as a servant of

the people i.e. the citizens, the public authorities have the responsibility to disclose the

information for them. As a consequence RTI promotes the legal recognition for the citizen to

access the information and at the same time it creates also the scope of responsibility to do

important works for them.

The right of information makes the people empowered to get information and asking important

information from the responsible person or the organizations. During the last two decades,

governments around the world have become increasingly more open. By 2013, about 100

countries have adopted national right to information laws or national ordinances/regulations to

facilitate access to official information and more are enacting such legislation (Banisar, 2011).

While most of these laws are similar in structure, there are considerable variances between them

which substantially influence their effectiveness. It can be mentioned that the right to access of

information was recognised in law for the first time more than two hundred years ago in Sweden,

with the publication of the Freedom of Press Law in 1776 (Global Right to Information Index,

2010). In recent years governments of different countries increasingly recognize the importance

of access to information for enhancing democratic engagement, building confidence in

government institutions and strengthening their credibility and effectiveness. In this

globalcontext, Bangladesh is the world‟s 88th

country that gave the legal foundation to the right

to information (MRDI, 2013).

3. Right to Information Act: Bangladesh Context

The Government of Bangladesh in 2009 gave this legal foundation by framing the Right to

Information Act, 2009 (RTI Act) aimed at ensuring citizens‟ rights to information in the country.

The enactment of the RTI Act is a milestone of Democracy in Bangladesh. Article 39 of the

Bangladesh Constitution establishes freedom of speech, thought and conscience as one of the

fundamental rights. RTI Act is now being implemented to promote the right to access to

information to the people of Bangladesh in all activities, policies, decisions, and income-

expenditure of all autonomous, government and foreign aided non-governmental organization

and other authorities.

At present, the RTI Act in Bangladesh has stepped in its fifth year. It is mentioned that the RTI

Act 2009 is the result of a long standing demand and movement of the media and the civil

society. Members of the civil society have specially remained engaged through a well-organized

movement which influenced the government. The civil society till date is playing a major role in

the implementation of the law side by side with the government by creating public awareness

and identifying hurdles of implementing the law (Ibid, p.14, Para 1 and 5)

This act has been formulated based on the principle of proactive disclose of information,

promoting transparency and accountability, maximum flow of information, make easy access to

information and providing information by limited and logical cost etc. According to this law, it

has been mandatory for all the concern authority to appoint an assigned officer for

providinginformation. In fact, if someone does not get the information applying to the concern

authority - the Information Commission will be responsible to take decision according to the

manner prescribed by law. Meanwhile, the commission has been able to resolve a number of

complaints. The RTI law has provisions of compensation also in this regards. Finally RTI law is

the great achievement for the citizens of Bangladesh and now it is being considered as a great

tool for ensuring access to information in all the activities of public-private sector of different

departments, organizations, agencies and institutions that touch the life span of the citizen.

4. Right to Information and Good Governance

A direct relationship exists between right to information and good governance. For RTI Act to

achieve its purpose, the public should have free access to Government information. This

provides them the opportunity of being informed of what the Government does for them, why

and how it does. Good governance provides a platform that enables the Government to operate

efficiently, effectively and transparently and to be accountable to the public.

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 (CGG, 2006: 22).

It is said that information is the oxygen of democracy. 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 (Ibid, p.24, Para 1). However, the process of

governance encompasses the political, social and economic aspects of life which have an impact

on each individual, household, village, region or the nation.

5. The RTI Act and E-Governance: Committed to Improvement in Quality of Life

Right to Information Act is a citizen-friendly law that makes the public a confidence on the

government, as well as increased government‟s accountability. RTI provides citizens the

opportunity of being informed of what government does for them, why and how it does. Besides

it helps to establish transparency and accountability in all sectors and sections of government and

non-government activities. Opportunities are required for the success in development of human

resources. People can be able to develop and achieve the standard of quality lives if they get the

maximum opportunities from the field of intellectual and creative works by accessing the

qualitative information and knowledge.

In the age of globalization the people who are more informed and advanced in information and

communication, have been able to confirm immense development. Therefore, information and

communication technology has been changing the daily lives of informed citizens. In this

context, our RTI Act can ensure a meaningful result to achieve the quality of life of general

citizens.

The RTI act is being enacted globally for promoting transparency, accountability and social

justice by eliminating of growing inequality between „Information-rich‟ and „information poor‟

through the exercise of free flow of information among the citizens. Therefore, the main

objective of right to information legislation is to bring about a structural change in the approach

to governance and in relations between government and the people.

In real sense, RTI Act has given people the right to participate in governance and the present

ICT-based information age has redefined the fundamentals and transformed the institutions and

mechanisms of service delivery forever. The concept of electronic governance,popularly called

e-governance is derived from this concern. In fact, RTI and e-governance are twins and are

inseparable, because e-governance will never be complete unless the RTI Act is fully

implemented, neither will RTI work if there is not a full-fledged system of computerization and

administration (Singh, 2010: 1). E-governance provides a sound strategy to strengthen overall

governance. It can not only improve accountability, transparency and efficiency of government

processes, but also facilitate sustainable and inclusive growth. E-governance also provides a

mechanism of direct delivery of public services to the marginal segments of the society in the

remotest corners, without having to deal with intermediaries.

In fact, RTI leads to e-governance and e-governance creates those opportunities which are

focused towards development-oriented, citizen-caring, citizen-friendly, and above all

participatory and responsive public management committed to improvement in quality of life of

the citizens.

A study on Right to Information Act showed that during the 221 years from 1766 to 1987, RTI

act has been enacted only in 14 countries but from 1987 to 2012 during only 22 years people of

86 different countries and regions of the world have adopted RTI act (Aliur, 2013). Focusing this

trend of global scenario it has been observed that the RTI Act around world provides a

framework for promotion of citizen-government partnership in designing and implementation of

development programmes for improving quality of life, which calls for increasing people‟s

options for higher earnings, better education and health care, a cleaner environment and a richer

cultural life.

7. Local Government and the Right to Know

In the process of governance or e-governance right to know applies not only to governmental

records and data, but also to governmental decision-making processes themselves. In this

context, importance of dissemination of information and the power of local government work

area have been increasing aiming to promote transparency and accountability for a more

democratic process of government. Considering the wave of world trend a strong local

government system is building for the time being to establish a close relation between the

government and the people step-by- step in consolidate democracy.

Local governments implement the tasks of the central government in the local-level. In the

section 59 of the Bangladesh Constitution, there is a provision of electing representative in local

government. At present there are District, Upazila, Union Parishad, Municipality and City

Corporation as the different tiers of local government. Each organization has a separate law for

local governance and the local government representatives will be elected in accordance with the

law. So there will be an elected local council in different level of local government tier. The law

of respective organization sayshow the people will choose their local government

representatives, the members of the Council, as well as what will work and what will be the

central government's relations with the local government (Roy, 2012: 26).

At present various national and international development partner organizations are working

simultaneously with the government to deliver the benefits of good governance and the

development at the grassroots level and strengthening local government system and

infrastructure. Therefore, it has been observed that the importance of peoples‟ access to

information relating improvement of the lives of the citizens for strengthening the local

government system is increasing day by day. As a result being enacting the Right to Information

Act in the country it can be helpful in many ways to accelerate the pro-people governance and

benefits of local government. It is observed in the research findings that there are inabilities to

provide information services by the government institutions to the rural population. In most cases

they are failing to define development strategies and techniques. Though, sometimes information

obtained from these institutions is quite old. Again, sometimes various public institutions give

different kinds of information on the same subject (Rahman, 2008).

People can bring back towards development by breaking the bad cycles of hunger, poverty,

exploitation, and inequality getting and using information effectively and freely. But in the rural

areas or at the grassroots level, people are still deprived of this right. Development economists

have shown that how and why information is largely lacking. This is because, these areas or

people are in poverty situation, which is responsible for information inequality and zero

information. They also showedhow the flow of information can ensure poverty alleviation

reducing rich-poor inequality. In this regard former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi

Annan had said, “If information and knowledge are central to democracy, the conditions for

development...and the path of poverty can be reversed to utilize information and knowledge for

all” (Annan, 1997).

8. An FDG: Probable Problems at Grassroots Level if there is no Right to Information

A focus group discussion (FGD) was held for a study on “Access to Information and Right to

Communication: A Critical Analysis of the Situation of Bangladesh” at Bandarban Hill District.

The analysis of the data obtained from FGD findings lead that the local people are facing

problems for not accessing information due to excuse of official secret Act. No one has enough

information on what is the right treatment is given to the hospital or the medical care has been

given by the physician at the local hospital.

Though the citizens of this region have the right to know that the quantity and thetypes of

medicine are available over there in the hospital but they do not know about it. Even it was found

that the distress freedom fighters are also being deprived of their rights. The distress people do

not get government allocation. A journalist participantduringFDG mentioned that sometimes

they had to fight for collecting information especially which deals with investigative reports.

According to him, collecting information from NGOs is more difficult than from the prison

(Rahman, 2007).

9. Key Findings from Interview with RTI Expert:Has the Situation been Improved

Enacting the RTI Act?

Once people has no idea on what the Right to Information is. There was no idea about this

among the general people even among us. Through a long movement especially the NGOs and

civil society could be able to understand that legal status of right to information is needed for the

human being to live a better life. After a long demonstration and movement at one stage the

government enact RTI act in 2009. Enacting this law an inspiration of getting information has

been created among the people and has been recognized as right also. It is a great culture that

brought a big change among the people. If they wish they can seek information through this RTI

Act. Earlier there was movement for enacting the law but now movement is needed for

implementing this law. Through this movement awareness should be made to accelerate the RTI

law by various activities. For implementing this law administrative structure and system of

legislative should be improved. A comprehensive development roadmap should be developed for

improving the infrastructure, technology and human resources of information providing

institutions (JMC Gazette, 2013: 2).

10. Benefits of the Right to Information Act: A Case Study

Sheikh Ali Ahammad of Fatulla in Narayanganj complained with due process in the Information

Commission for not getting his demanded information. He sought information under the RTI Act

to Dr. Golam Mostafa, a physician of upazila health complex on 8 February 2011, whether did

one patient named Mamun admitted in this health complex from 7-11 April in 2009? But in

accordance with the RTI Act, section 9 instead of providing information within 20 working days

information was provided on April 5, 2011. Mr. Ahammad on April 8, 2011 put a complaint

against the doctor to the Information Commission for not getting the information in time. The

Commission alleged Golam Mostofa for delaying in providing information and fined him Taka

one thousand. But the judgment of the Commission was challenged the validity of the writ to the

High Court consisting of Justice Golam Mostafa, AHM Shamsuddin Chowdhury and Justice

Jahangir Hossain Chowdhury. The High Court bench dismissed the appeal against the judgment

of the Commission (Sarker, 2013: 43). Though we have a lot of incidents not to get information

under the Right to Information Act in time, but this is not a rare incident of effective

implementation of the RTI law.

11. How Does One Establish the Right to Information at Grassroots Level?

If spontaneously access to information of all the level of citizens can be guaranteed then the life

of every citizen engaged in the profession of production for the country can be changed. Because

of lacking of proper and necessary information, people cannot ensure expected development and

production. It is easier to produce highest level of crop if a rural farmer gets the information of

getting better seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, modern and scientific information. Again after the

production of the crop when it is produced, if they know the information where they get a better

price then they will not be deprived from a fair profit. It is therefore likely getting continuous and

free flow of information the grassroots producers will enjoy the benefits of development-

economy. Thus rural poverty will gradually decrease. And at the end of the stage for successful

implementation of RTI law everyone must participate in exercise.

It is realized that, it is a social crime to keep information confidential regarding public interest.

Right to Information Act seeks such a right that people should be aware to gain the rights as well

as to be able to raise the voice for protesting in case of violation of or obstacle to this right. A

social movement should be built for successful implementation for the RTI Act reducing

growing inequality between „information rich‟ and „information poor‟ in the existing society.

Besides this through starting a new culture of seeking information under the RTI Act the

information poor people must be built as information rich. Gradually information and knowledge

management can ensure such a way among the information poor people at the grassroots level

that their information poverty can remove and ensure free access to information.

Some qualitative findings of a survey conducted by Research Initiative, Bangladesh (RIB) in

2011 shows that only four percent people knew about the RTI Act earlier whereas during survey

time 91 percent knew about this law. No one did apply for seeking information at early stage but

for the time being 231 application have been submitted to seek the information in which 44 were

women applicants. The qualitative result of the same study is showing that self-confidence of

grassroots people has been increased for enacting RTI Act. Government information that was

very rare before enacting RTI Act, but after enacting the law now the information become free

and open to access. People of local area can do the agriculture card, open bank accounts, and

getting the government services like VGD, VGF (Thakurta and others, 2011: 73).

12. The Role of Local Media and Local Journalism

Journalism is a great profession that can promote transparency, accountability and good

governance to the nation. The emergence of „development journalism‟ is also an extension of

this profession in this regard where local journalists can contribute for peace and social justice to

strengthen the local governance institutions. For protecting the rights of local people to know the

power of information and the role of local media and journalists are inevitable. It may be a good

example about the role of a local newspaper ― the „Haque Katha‟ and its Editor (when the then

government shut down „Haque Katha‟) Mowlana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani then said: „for

the greater welfare of the country, my thought, consciousness, intellect, morality whatever may

be, I would say these by way of going door-to-door, man-to-man‟ (Aliur, 2008).

The era of „block voice‟ of news media exist no longer. Now news media and journalism is quite

free. The print and electronic media have crossed over the bindings of era. Now it is the era of

multimedia journalism, citizen journalism, Journalism of local government and community

journalism. Though there are no specific boundaries to differentiate among the community

journalism, local journalism and journalism on local government issues. However, in recent

trends of news reporting, it is observed that local issues become popular at the national level but

reporting on local governance aspects does not get significant importance in the national or local

media. But in the changed reality, if it is focused on these immense potential fields, journalism

on local governance as a separate reporting would be for strengthening the local development

through people‟s participation. No doubt, it will bring unthinkable success in the near future.

13. Concluding Remarks

Right to information is inherent in participatory democracy and a pre-condition for good

governance and the realization of all other human rights. This right has empowered the citizen

regarding to seek information from the assigned person and organizations according the national

and international legal recognition. As conscious citizen we should have to uphold the right to

access of information for strengthening the local government through people‟s participation for

achieving the desired development in the lives of grassroots level people.

Participation and empowerment are key factors for sustainable development of any country or

society. Therefore, rights to access of information and knowledge should have to be addressed as

the „touch-stone‟ of human rights, particularly in the context of local government, in order to

strengthen the local government through citizens‟ participation. There is no alternative to this, if

it is desired that governance in these institutions should be transparent and accountable within

the framework of gradual process of decentralization of present government system.

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