Harsha on RTI:

There is political will now

"Transparency should be the norm, and secrecy the exception," said Dr. Harsha de Silva, Deputy Foreign Minister at a meeting held recently on 'Right to Information'.

He was speaking at a consultation organised by the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) held at the ICES Auditorium.

The Consultation came a day after the Cabinet of Ministers gave its stamp of approval to a draft law on the Right to Information (RTI). Enacting a RTI law was, part of the 100-day program of the current Government. However, the law did not get passed during the 100-day period.

The Deputy Minister said this time there is political will to make the RTI law a reality, and that a democratic government cannot survive without accountability. This is the second time in 12 years that the Cabinet has approved a draft RTI law and on the previous occasion Parliament was dissolved before the law could be passed.

Dr. Jayampathy Wickramaratne, MP and Chairperson of the RTI Bill Drafting Committee, said that the exemptions in the draft Bill must be tested against the constitutional guarantee of the right to information contained in Article 14(A) inserted by the recent 19th Amendment.