Powering Change through Sri Lanka’s RTI Act at the Grassroots: Empowering Voices for Transparency and Accountability:

Social activists representing 57 villages across 10 districts converged in Hatton to deliberate on the use of the Right to Information (RTI) Act for safeguarding rights and enhancing transparency and accountability in the public sector. This crucial gathering, spearheaded by The Social Architects of Sri Lanka, facilitated a critical dialogue between activists, legal experts, and the RTI Commissioner Ms. Kishali Pinto Jeyawardnena.

Over three years of utilizing the RTI Act, participants shared both the hurdles encountered and the significant positive impacts on rights advocacy, underscoring the transformative potential of RTI. The dialogue brought to light a spectrum of issues, broadly categorized into institutional challenges, communication hurdles, legal obstacles, and social-political dynamics.

Institutional challenges included verbal abuses and threats by Public Authorities (PAs), their confusion over public interest, and adverse reactions to the accountability the RTI Act demands. Communication issues highlighted were the refusal to provide information in written formats, difficulties in sharing information among requestors, and postal service inefficiencies. Legal and procedural hurdles encompassed unauthorized information sharing, lost application claims, and a lack of follow-up on abuse reports. Social and political dynamics revealed the politicization of trade union officials and the complexities of navigating appeals and language barriers.

In response, the Commissioner emphasized the importance of reporting threats, using the RTI Act responsibly, and empathizing with the workload of public officials. Acknowledging language inclusivity challenges, the Commissioner assured a commitment to addressing these, despite human resource constraints within the commission.

This gathering highlighted the critical role of the RTI Act in driving societal transformation and outlined steps towards its more inclusive, respectful, and impactful application, signifying progress towards enhanced transparency and accountability within Sri Lanka’s public sector.