Unity of govt, stakeholders needed for implementation

Speakers at a meeting yesterday called for forging greater unity between the government and all stakeholders for a more impressive implementation of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, says a press release.
Transparency and accountability in all areas of the society can only be ensured if its demand and supply sides are strengthened, they said, adding that implementation of the RTI Act should not be slow.
They were speaking at a consultation meeting in Chittagong with a view to explore the role of citizens to access public information organised by Management and Resources Development Initiative (MRDI), supported by USAID PROGATI.
Government officials, development workers, rights activists, journalists, academics and members of the civil society took part in the open discussion moderated by Executive Director of D.Net Ananya Raihan.
Additional District Magistrate of Chittagong ABM Azad in his speech as chief guest said the government officials are locked by bureaucratic bottlenecks. “With the change of time we need to change ourselves,” he said adding, "people have the right to get information from public offices and we have to serve them.”
He said there should be adequate protection for whistle blowers for effective implementation of RTI.
Stressing the need for proactive disclosure culture in public offices Barrister Tanjib-ul Alam in his keynote speech suggested introduction of systemic changes in respect to information management, maintenance and destruction of records in public offices.
Hasibur Rahman, executive director of MRDI, said the law was enacted according to the demand of the civil society. Now it is their responsibility to involve mass people so that all citizens practice the law properly, he said.
He called upon the non-governmental organisations to earn people's trust through their activities
An MRD press release said findings from similar divisional consultation meetings will be presented in a national seminar later aimed to share the findings and set strategies to implement the law properly. This will aid the government and civil society organisations.
MRDI organised similar consultation meetings in Khulna and Rajshahi and will continue to do so in other divisional headquarters to identify procedures to implement RTI Act properly.