11 October 2011, Islamabad: The JI President, Sherry Rehman, MNA of Pakistan, introduced a long overdue RTI bill after pressing for it on the National Assembly agenda for seven years. The bill was introduced to recognize and realize the right to information as a fundamental constitutional right and to make information available to the public in order to promote good and transparent governance. The new RTI bill proposes to repeal the 2002 Ordinance on Freedom of Information to make all public and private bodies falling within its ambit accountable to citizens. The bill will also facilitate and encourage the disclosure of information for greater transparency, accountability and empowerment of citizens.
Sherry Rehman noted that universally the right to information is described as ‘oxygen’ for democracy and the ‘touchstone’ for all freedoms. “This is because an effective law on right to information is widely considered a pre-requisite for combating corruption, ensuring transparency and promoting public accountability,” she said.
“Today, now that Article 19 of the Constitution has made the freedom of speech and expression a fundamental right of the citizens, access to information is being given as a right,” she added. According to the 18th Amendment Bill, after Article 19, the following new article will be inserted, namely: 19A. Right to information: - Every citizen shall have the right to have access to information in all matters of public importance subject to regulation.”
The RTI bill requires organizations to proactively publish their records of structure, budget and modus operandi. It further ensures that any individual requesting information is guaranteed a quick turnover of the request. Previously the requests for information have been known to be a tedious process and often the information has not been made available to the individual. The RTI bill makes it possible to access information within time constraints often crucial for journalists.
The bill restricts the exceptions where information may be protected from the public within clear grounds. It requires that applicants be provided an explanation for why they are not being granted the information and alternative options pointed out. Previously information was denied to the public without giving concrete reasons, which discouraged individuals from seeking information.
The Right to Information is the backbone for stakeholder democracy and reform. Transparency, accountability and governance can be enhanced through strong RTI laws. The government must provide access to and ensure free flow of information on the basis of public inclusion. The RTI Bill will empower the public and citizens’ groups to monitor the operations of the government and public and private bodies while concurrently promoting a culture of non-abusive, across the board accountability of governments. It will be applicable in all spheres of interaction between the public and the government and will serve as a tool for empowerment of the citizens of Pakistan.
RIGHT TO INFORMATION BILL 2011
OUR OBJECTIVES:
- Create an enabling environment for RTI to engender higher transparency in the contractual and governance culture of the state and private sector, and to institutionalize the relationship of the citizen to a more open and accountable government.
- Use RTI to catalyze social action and create demand for open governance and transparency. RTI can empower citizens enough to reverse a degree of ‘democracy fatigue’ that sets in whenever elected governments in Pakistan do not perform according to public expectations
- Establish RTI laws that enforce maximum disclosure, with minimum exemptions, whistleblower protections, open meetings, easy and time-bound appeal procedures and clauses to de-classify public record to ensure institutional accountability.
- Push for the reform of bad laws and assess new alternatives: Concerted campaigning is needed to build public stakes i n the reform of the 2002 ordinance. The push for such change will not come from government, as the 2002 experience demonstrates. Such laws create a history of obstructions, and de-incentivize citizens from seeking information. Amendments that make disclosure obligatory and are consistent with universal principles of freedom of information will in Pakistan have to rely on public pressure, civil society and media pressure, as well as legislative champions across party lines.
- Build Mass Literacy through Agents of Change: In order to build public interest in RTI laws, both civil society facilitators and public policy advisors will have to engage with government departments at a minimal level, in not just seeking information, but also making it obligatory for organizations to store, index and computerize public record for easy accessibility
- Sharing Regional Best-Practices: In order to evolve responsive models that make sense to local requesters for information, and to share best practices at different stages of the process, an infrastructure of web networks, video conferencing and regional workshops need to be activated.
Comparisons Between three RTI/FOI laws in Pakistan:
- THE RTI BILL 2011 AND THE FOI BILL 2004
- THE RTI BILL 2011 AND THE FO1 ORDINANCE 2000
The Right to Information Act 2011 changes the Freedom of Information Bill 2004 in the following ways:
- Expansion in definition of public body to include private bodies that carry out the work of public bodies.
- Access to information not only to be denied but additional requirement on all public bodies to publish an annual account of their functioning
- Expansion in whistleblower protection
- Broad category of exemptions to be avoided and a narrow focus on public worded exemptions
- Refusal to disclose record would be accompanied by a comprehensive written record by a public official. Additional recourse to courts emphasized.
- Recognition of the need to legislatively enforce the right to information instead of freedom of information thus acknowledging the constitutional significance of the subject
- Expansion in the definition of complaint
- Expansion in the definition of public record
- Facilitating and making the application for information easier and removing inhibitions in the process
- Protection against premature disclosure
- Imposition of a mandatory requirement on the government to maintain and index comprehensive public records
- Requirement of computerization and availability of complete records
- Inclusion of the requirement to update public records
- Deletion of the exclusion of public records which are labeled as private documents by third parties
- Specification of a general and affirmative duty on public officials to assist requestors
- Designation of officials in each public body as Public Information Officers
- Removal of the restriction of the Act on citizens of Pakistan only
- Requirement on the requisite public body to transfer a request for information to another public body if the latter is better equipped to deal with the request
- Encouragement of partial disclosure of information if full disclosure is caught by an exception
- Prosecution of a person who inhibits the process of recovery of information in any way
- Imposing a balance of interest test to the broad exceptions with public interest as the main overreaching aim.
The Right to Information Act 2011 changes the Freedom of Information Ordinance 2002 in the following ways:
- Inclusion of a complaint to be based on broad factors allowing greater recourse to the applicant
- Broad expansion in the meaning of a public body to include provincial bodies, statutory bodies owned by both federal and provincial government, unincorporated bodies functioning under the federal and provincial government and private bodies that carry out work of a public nature.
- Extension in the availability of records including by-laws, manuals, orders having the force of law in Pakistan as well as reports of legislative and municipal proceedings
- Removal of discretionary powers on the Government to curtail right of information under broadly worded exceptions
- Greater mandatory requirements on a Public Information Officer in order to facilitate a practical access to information and use of ones’ right to information
- Reduction on the time limit which applies to the release of information
- Removal of the uncertain and highly destructive provision that disallows the entitlement of the applicant’s right to information on a discretionary and undefined term
- Removal of the broad exceptions of ‘international relations’ and commercial relations
- Expansion of public records to include provincial records as well as information required to be furnished by a person to a public body under any law or furnished for the purpose of receiving any benefit or advantage or any information of whatsoever nature in possession of a public body in which members of the public may have a legitimate interest;
- Imposition of a de-classification clause that removes immunity on public bodies for getting prosecuted and enables a wider access to information
- Enabling of not only officials but any individual causing a hindrance in the way of obtaining information to be prosecuted on the basis of this
- Increasing the ambit of the Act to apply for the protection of not only citizens of Pakistan but also residents
- Removal on the obstacles of appealing to the Mohtasib and allowance of greater means of recourse
- Inclusion of not only a modern whistle blowers clause but allowing for greater protection in this regard
- Requirement of information on websites to allow complete and timely publication of standard records in order to avoid red tape
- Facilitating and making the application for information easier and removing inhibitions in the process
- Protection against premature disclosure
- Imposition of a mandatory requirement on the government to maintain and index comprehensive public records
- Imposing a balance of interest test to the broad exceptions with public interest as the main overreaching aim.