তথ্য অধিকার আইন

The Daily Star, Saturday, July 15, 2023

Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz

Today, we share some personal stories to show the power of law to warm the hearts of citizens who deign to use it. Often, we perceive law as something impersonal and removed from the individual, and we forget that at its heart, the law is human and personal.

Right to Information (RTI) activist Khairul Islam from Taraganj, Rangpur heard about some corrupt practices of the local Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) office from his wife who worked there. It was related to the fixed deposit accounts of employees managed by the office. Read more

The Daily Star, Monday, June 15, 2023

Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz

Upon the adoption of Bangladesh’s Right to Information (RTI) Act in 2009, many had considered it the most revolutionary law of the land. But 14 years on, no large-scale scandals have been unearthed, no earth-shattering investigative journalism has shed light on major corruption. The NGOs, journalists, and civil society members who most celebrated the entry of the law hardly pay it any attention. The avowed objective of the RTI Act of “increasing transparency and accountability of public offices, decreasing corruption of the same and establishing good governance” remains a pipe dream. Read more

The Daily Star, Monday, May 15, 2023

Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz

Readers often ask if we see a future for the Right to Information (RTI) Act in Bangladesh. Can public officials, long used to a deeply entrenched culture of official secrecy, ever become transparent in their work and feel accountable to citizens? Are there enough citizens who understand the full scope of the law and have the courage to use it to seek sensitive information or to expose any potential misdeeds?

The success and failure of any RTI law ride on three key players: citizens who must submit information requests, public authorities who must deal with them properly, and the Information Commission (IC) who must mediate disputes between the two sides impartially. Read more

The Daily Star, Saturday, April 15, 2023

Shamsul Bari and Ruhi Naz

Citizens’ right to monitor, probe and question the work of their governments is essential for democracy. The use of this right varies among countries which have adopted a Right to Information (RTI) or Freedom of Information (FOI) Act – tools to facilitate the process. The path from government secrecy to openness is long, winding and rocky, even in countries where the right to information is well-entrenched. In a country such as ours – where the law is relatively new – we still have far to go before the right is seen not merely as “window dressing” to bolster our democratic credentials but becomes a true tool to hold our public authorities to account.

The three key parties in this process are citizens, their public authorities and the arbiters of any disputes between the first two. The first have the right to demand information; the second have the responsibility to respond. The third are members of the Information Commission (IC), composed mainly of former bureaucrats. Both the second and third pillars of this tool can be too hesitant in carrying out their duties, uncertain about the extent of government sincerity in opening itself up to public scrutiny.Read More