All those who wish good governance to flourish in Sri Lanka must welcome the RTI Commission’s recent orders directing the Northern Provincial Council to give information on appointments of management assistants and office assistants to the provincial councillors.

Though SriLankan Airlines management had attempted to ‘buy time’ on an RTI application filed by the Airline Pilots Guild of Sri Lanka under Sri Lanka’s RTI Act, saying that it will be requesting for advice from the RTI Commission, the Commission has responded informing the Information Officer at SriLankan Airlines that the Commission will be ‘unable’ to advise as requested.

In general terms, the Right to Information is a right of citizens. In Sri Lanka, there is a perception that it is the media which was foremost in fighting to bring about that right into law. That perception is correct to a large degree.

Taking advantage of the country’s Right to Information Act, the Airline Pilots Guild of Sri Lanka have written to SriLankan Airlines Information Officer Shiara Sellamuttu seeking full disclosure to several information pertaining to the salaries of CEO Suren Ratwatte, Head of Human Resources Pradeepa Kekulawla, Chief Commercial Officer Siva Ramachandran, besides information on the botched Pakistan International Airline wet lease deal and the cost incurred to train CEO Ratwatte to fly the Airbus 320 aircraft.

On the 8th of August, 2017, the RTI Commission held a Consultation on drafting Directives on Record Management under Section 7 of the RTI Act.

When President Maithripala Sirisena (in picture) promised to introduce a Right to Information Act in his manifesto prior to the January 2015 elections, it sounded distant to most Sri Lankans. Like millions of citizens in the region, they had resigned to their government’s opaque administration and its aversion to accountability. When the Act became a reality in 2016, citizens suddenly found a new dynamic with the government. They could ask more questions and, significantly, be entitled to answers. “We are receiving at least 100 applications every day from all over the country,” said Ranga Kalansooriya, Director General of the Government Information Department. “This is an unexpected number within months of implementation,” he said, pointing to the need for more awareness at all levels.

The Government has strongly denied reports in some Sinhala media that it plans to amend the Right to Information Act to ensure that Cabinet secrets are not subjected to RTI disclosure.

Responding to reports that an amendment bringing about this change will be hurriedly brought to Sri Lanka’s RTI Act ranked internationally as the third best law in the world, Director General of Information Ranga Kalansooriya responded on social media, denying the same. The DG Information stated that what was intended was merely to seek the advice of the Attorney General in regard to the application of the exemption relating to Cabinet papers and decisions. He stated further that ‘in any case there will be no move to curtail the law. The news is the usual exaggeration by media.

On April 14, 2017 the garbage dump in Meethotamulla collapsed, killing 32 people. These deaths could have been avoided. That they could not, points to a systematic failure of the State to address various issues raised by the dumping of garbage close to human settlements. Residents from Meethotamulla went to the Supreme Court in 2014 seeking the relocation of the dump. Their calls went unheeded.