A Better World Volume 2

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The right to information for a better world

with special reference to Sri Lanka

R Lalitha S Fernando, Head and Professor; H O C Gunasekara, Research Assistant, Department of Public

Administration, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka

he right to information is considered to be the foun-

dation of good governance and the principle by

which sustainable development becomes reality. This

article examines the possibility of achieving good govern-

ance and sustainable development in Sri Lanka through the

recent establishment of the Right to Information Act. The

Global Right to Information Rating in 2016 has opined this

act to be one of the best practices for a better world.

Sustainable development is a pathway to a better world.

Governance is identified as a means of steering the process

of sustainable development which can be seen as a collection

of rules, stakeholder involvement and processes to realize

a common goal.

Transparency, accountability, responsive-

ness, participation and responsibility are the key attributes of

good governance that contribute to establishing a sustainable

environment. In the process of establishing good govern-

ance, there should be a proper mechanism to ensure its

integrity. When a country has successfully ensured its right

to information, it creates a more open government.

Recently, Sri Lanka has given its highest consideration to

ensure the right to information. The county faced many chal-

lenges with the civil war for more than 30 years and, after

the war, the country experienced many pressures interna-

tionally as well as from within. Under these pressures, the

present government came to power in 2015 with an election

campaign that gave the highest consideration to the estab-

lishment of good governance. As a result, the government

introduced the Right to Information Act, No. 12 in 2016.

In the Global Right to Information Rating (RTI Rating)

of 2016, the new Act was ranked in third place, scoring 131

out of 150, while Mexico and Serbia were placed in first and

second place, respectively. The rating assesses the strength of

the legal framework around the right to information accord-

ing to 61 indicators among seven categories, namely: right

of access, scope, requesting procedures, exceptions, appeals,

sanctions, and promotional measures.

Under this ranking and among the selected criteria, only

the sanctions were somewhat low for Sri Lanka, with other

categories scoring higher. The central idea behind the RTI

Rating is to provide RTI advocates, reformers, legislators

and others with a reliable tool for comparatively assessing

the overall strength of a legal framework. It also indicates

weaknesses in the legal framework and provides a conveni-

ent means of pinpointing areas in need of improvement.²

However, it is important to analyse how the Act has been

developed to identify its strengths and weaknesses. This act

is established with the purpose of guaranteeing the right to

information enacted by the constitution of the country. The

Act indicated that it fosters a culture of transparency and

accountability in public authorities and thereby promotes

a society in which the people of Sri Lanka would be able

to more fully participate in public life through combating

corruption and promoting accountability to establish good

governance.

The Act provides the right of access to information to

specify grounds on which access may be denied, to establish

the Right to Information Commission, to appoint informa-

tion officers, and to set out the procedure of reaching the

purposes for establishing such an Act. The minister of

parliamentary reforms and mass media was assigned the

responsibilty for the effective implementation of the provi-

sion of this Act.

The Act is considered to be well-established and formal-

ized, providing the required instructions and regulations

which need to be implemented effectively by providing

specific definitions for the wording and avoiding confusion

or contradiction when implementing it.

Sri Lankan status in the Global Right to Information

Rating in 2016

Source:

www.rti-rating.org

Category

Maximum

Score

Score by

country

Right of Access

Scope

Requesting procedures

Exceptions

Appeals

Sanctions

Promotional measures

Total

150

131