chri executive summary 2003: looking for the right to information in ...

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Status of the Right to Information in the CommonwealthExplicit Constitutional Guarantee onlyAccess RegimeSpecific guaranteePart of speech & expressionNo Access RegimeAustralia Ghana Antigua and Barbuda BangladeshBelize Malawi The Bahamas Brunei DarussalamCanada Mozambique Barbados, Botswana The GambiaIndia Papua New Guinea Cameroon MalaysiaJamaica + Uganda Cyprus MaldivesNew Zealand + United Republic of Tanzania Dominica NauruPakistan Fiji Islands NamibiaSouth Africa # Grenada SamoaTrinidad and Tobago Guyana SingaporeUnited Kingdom Kenya SwazilandZimbabwe* + Kiribati TongaLesothoMaltaMauritiusNigeriaSeychellesSierra LeoneSolomon IslandsSri LankaSt Kitts and NevisSt LuciaSt Vincent and the GrenadinesTuvaluZambiaVanuatu# Pakistan promulgated a Right to Information Ordinance in October 2002 but no access legislation has yet been passed.+ Not yet in operation.* The Zimbabwe law is so heavily qualified that it is tantamount to having no access legislation.Resistance to change is strong when vested interests have so much to lose.Consequently, Commonwealth governments unused to opening themselves up toscrutiny have been quick to offer justifications for not providing a guaranteedright to access information. None are compelling. In these turbulent times, anincreasingly common argument trotted out by governments is that openness willcause great harm to national security or other important interests of state. Thiscan be a legitimate concern. Clearly, sensitive information such as intelligencedata or international trade secrets may need to be kept confidential. Issues arealso sometimes raised about breaching privacy and damaging commercial interests.The reality is however, that the bulk of government-held information does notfall into sensitive categories. Much of the information requested by the public isuncontroversial. People want to know simple things: what the priorities12CHRI 2003 REPORT: LOOKING FOR THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION IN THE COMMONWEALTH
in health spending are; how government insurance schemes calculate the cost of theirpremiums; what colouring is permissible in food. In any case, well-drafted access lawsinclude exemptions for certain types of sensitive information, provided these are narrowlydefined and non-disclosure itself serves the public interest. Good legislation will alsoallow for the balancing of competing interests in difficult cases and permit externaladjudication where there is a dispute. The extent of disclosure – full or partial – can bedetermined according to the context. Thus, while it may not be in the national interestto disclose where a group of new aircraft is to be deployed, there is no reason why,merely because the Defence Department is involved, citizens should not be giveninformation on how much an air force jet cost or the details of the purchase agreement.Public officials have also claimed that openness is detrimental because it constrainsfree and frank discussions within governments, delays decision-making and inhibits thecandour of advice. Officials are concerned because every request for information hasthe potential to expose a scam, open up bureaucratic decisions to question, put uproadblocks on policy directions and carries the threat of public scandalif used by political opponents. But the risk of government embarrassmentis certainly not a sufficient justification for keeping government informationfrom the public. The formulation of policies in secret makes them almost Public servants whocertain prey to bias and unfettered discretion. In contrast, the possibilitygenuinely believe theyof scrutiny supports the honest bureaucrat, inhibits favour-seekers andimproves the overall quality of decision-making by ensuring that decisions are serving theirare grounded in careful analysis and not made arbitrarily.masters by denying theFinally, officials, particularly in developing countries, argue that public information forgetguaranteed access to information is a luxury that must await better times.that their masters areCountries also raise the cost of managing and disseminating informationas an insurmountable barrier to open government. This argument may the public themselves.initially appear to have some merit in countries that are struggling just tofeed their populations, but it is seriously flawed when one considers thatgood record-keeping is a basic and indispensable precondition foreffective governance. It also overlooks the amount that governments already spendon creating systems of secrecy and waste on distributing their own propaganda.For example, in the mid-1990s it was estimated that the Freedom of Information Act inVictoria, Australia cost about $3 million to administer, compared to the $75 millionspent each year by government departments providing brochures and booklets to thepublic. 9 The costs to private business and individuals of paying bribes to access importantinformation can also not be ignored. Expenditure incurred in opening up governmentis more than offset by the many benefits – economic and social – that result fromgreater transparency. Access to information is, in fact, a fundamental precondition fordevelopment and democracy.People-Friendly Access Regimes Must be Put in PlaceThe reality is that the development of a ‘culture of openness’ is beneficial to the publicand the government. The best way of achieving open government is by putting in placepeople-friendly access to information regimes. The first step is to design a legallyenforceable access law which makes open government the norm and removes allobstructions that hamper the realisation of the right.CHRI EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2003: LOOKING FOR THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION IN THE COMMONWEALTH13
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Page 9 and 10: open up. In one extreme case, even
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