Disappointment expressed about about paucity of RTI use against private entities

The Sri Lanka Press Institute (SLPI) Monday organized an online panel discussion titled ‘A Law that Worked for Citizens: Five Years of Right to Information in Sri Lanka’ to commemorate the International Day for Universal Access to Information (IDUAI) which falls on September 28.

The discussion was joined by an eminent group of panelists led by the RTI Commission of Sri Lanka Commissioner Ms. Kishali Pinto Jayawardena, Julius & Creasy Senior Counsel Ms. Prashanthi Mahindaratne, and Technology, Media and Communications Law Legal Consultant/ Research Fellow Ms. Ashwini Natesan, while the panel was moderated by Attorney-at-Law and former Sri Lanka Ambassador to Saudi Arabia: Mr. Javid Yusuf.

Setting the stage to the discussion, Mr. Yusuf stated: “In the current times, we are very much focused on the rights of the citizens. The citizen’s participation in democracy, how best citizens can get involved in democracy on almost day to day basis, because unlike in the past where people voted at an election and forgot about it till the next election, there is an increasing consciousness among people that they cannot afford to do that any longer. They have to be present, they have to participate in democracy. And one of the tools for this, if used effectively, is the Right to Information law in Sri Lanka.”

Giving several examples where the RTI Act has been used by the public to challenge the status quo, Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena commented: “While citizens have been proactive in the use of RTI, one disappointing factor is the use of RTI against private entities has not been as strong as against state entities. The citizens of Sri Lanka have done quite a lot in the past five years using the RTI Act to improve their community.”

Adding to the conversation, Ms. Prashanthi Mahindaratne noted: “The RTI law is a bridge that would enable the Government as well as the citizens to traverse towards the achievement of SDGs. But while the public authorities or the citizens fail to take follow up action utilizing the disclosed information it may remain a bridge uncrossed. This is perhaps reflected in the fact that while the RTI law has resulted in better transparency in the conduct of public functionaries, there does not appear to be discernible impact on the corruption indices.”

This comment was made discussing the core findings from a research project conducted by the RTI Commission supported by the Swiss Government to analyze the use of the RTI law in the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Ms. Ashwini Natesan emphasized the progress made via RTI stating: “It’s important to stress that when we talk about transparency, we should also be mindful that proactive disclosures constitute a huge part of increased transparency. However, we’re only looking at reactive disclosures. The RTI legislation was operationalised in Sri Lanka on 2017 and during a relatively short span it shows promise of transparency, accountability and better governance but we still do have a long way to go.”

This online event also marked the release of three books published by the Media Reform Lanka Initiative titled: “A Practitioner’s Guide to Orders of the Right to Information Commission of Sri Lanka (2017-2021)”; “Sri Lanka’s Right to Information Regime and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals:Thoughts For Reflection”; and “Legal Commentaries to Selected Orders of the Right to Information Commission of Sri Lanka; 2019 – 2021”, edited by Ms. Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, Ms. Nivedha Jeyaseelan, and Ms. Inshira Faliq.

The panel discussion conducted in all three languages was virtually witnessed by journalists and other professionals from various fields and was live streamed on Facebook for the general public. It was followed by an engaging question and answer session where questions of a broad spectrum regarding the use of RTI was directed towards the panelists.