Organizer: Conscious Citizen Committee (CCC) and Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB)
Date: 28th September 2009
Event: Discussion on Right to Information: Demands for Hassle Free Information

Description:

Speakers at discussion meeting held in Barisal on Monday said that the precondition of Right to Information (RTI) Act is to ensure people's right to know and good governance, but the law will fail to serve the purpose due to some of its flawed clauses which is unable to reach the main objective of the law.

They said there are several loopholes in the proposed ordinance, which need to be closed in order to ensure maximum disclosure of information. Terming the right to know the mother of all rights and oxygen for democracy the speakers demanded that a provision protecting the whistleblowers be included in the RTI law.

The program captioned as 'Right To Information: Pledges of Good Governance (Tattho Adhikar: Sushasoner Angikar)' was jointly organized on the occasion of 'The International Right to Know Day, by Conscious Citizen Committee (CCC) of Barisal and Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) at Barisal Kirtonkhola auditorium with Manabendra Batabayal, Barisal CCC convener, in the chair.

Prof. Shah Sajeda presented the keynote paper of the programme and Advocate Talukdar Md. Yunus, AL MP from Barisal-1 constituency, attended the programme as chief guest.

Dr. Habibur Rahman, Prof Moazzem Hossain, citizen and human rights activists, Akkas Hossain, freedom fighter, A K Azad, trade unionist, Mohsinul Islam Habul, district Jatiya Party President, Anwar Zahid, Enayet Hossain Shiplu, Shuvankar Chakraborty, Zahid Hossain, NGO activists, Nazrul Islam Chunnu, cultural activists, Kazi Selina, TIB member, participated in the discussion.

The speakers termed the 'Right to Information Act' a big achievement, but underlined the need for adopting a specific strategy to implement the law. Economic development, establishment of rule of law and sustainable democracy in order to fight corruption, institutionalise democracy and establish good governance in the country, cannot be achieved unless ensuring free flow of information would ensure transparency and accountability in all spheres.

Pointing out that without informed opinion people cannot effectively intervene in the political process of a country. There are many loopholes in the proposed ordinance, they said that Sheikh Hasina's administration set up the Information Commission this year in keeping with the Right to Information Act 2009, but no rules to enforce the law have yet been framed, they observed.