This is because of the fact that the government has not enacted a right to information law as yet. The media reports, however, suggest that a few NGOs/social organizations arranged discussion meetings which emphasized the need for enacting a right to information law without further delay.

More than 60 countries, including our neighbouring country India, have enacted the right to information laws. But there is no statute in force in Bangladesh specifically recognizing the people's right to information, and providing a procedure for its implementation.

Enactment of right to information law by the government has been a long-held demand of the people.

Recognizing the linkage of the right of access to information with core notions of democratic governance like transparency, accountability, checks and balances, the Public Administration Reform Commission (PARC), set up by the immediate past AL government, in its report submitted in June 2000, not only recommended enactment of freedom of information law, but suggested a draft of the proposed law.

While talking to some journalists in March 2005, Law Minister Moudud Ahmed disclosed that the government was actively considering enactment of right to information law. While speaking at a seminar on right to information at Brac Centre in September 2005, Moudud Ahmed disclosed that the draft on the right to information law, prepared by the Law Commission, had been finalized by his ministry and sent to the Information Ministry, which would deal with the law for its passage in parliament.

Available information reveals that the salient features of the draft law on the right to information are as follows:

• "Information" means any material or information relating to the affairs, administration or conduct of any Public Authority;
• "Public Authority" includes: any government ministry, government or semi-government office, department, directorate, or office of any local or other authority, established by or under any Act or Ordinance; any company, corporation, trust, firm, society, co-operative society, association, organization, whether owned by the government, or privately owned but registered with the government under any law for the time being in force.
• "Right to information" means the right to access to information of any Public Authority. Every citizen shall have the right to information and, on request, to be given access to information relating to decisions made, proceedings drawn, or acts performed or proposed to be performed by any Public Authority.
• Every Public Authority shall be compelled to maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed and, subject to the provisions of the proposed Act and any other law for the time being in force, to make available to any citizen requesting information from it, and shall not withhold any information, or limit its availability, without any lawful reason.
• Every Public Authority shall cause to be published on a periodic basis (not less than once every two years) a publication containing: (a) a description of the organisation, responsibilities of the executives and description of its decision-making process and responsibilities of its officers and employees; (b) classes of records in possession of the Public Authority; (c) a statement about the conditions upon which citizens can acquire license, permit, grant, allotment, consent, approval or other benefits of any nature from the Public Authority, or upon which transactions or contracts of any category can be entered with the Public Authority; and (d) the facilities provided for access to information and the name, designation and location of the officer to whom requests for information may be addressed.
• A citizen desiring to obtain information from a Public Authority under the proposed Act shall make a request to the designated officer, or if no officer was designated, to the head of the office, as the case may be, clearly specifying the particulars of the information, document or record and the mode of access, i.e. inspection, copying or taking note, sought for. Such a request shall be made in the prescribed form supplied by the authority at Taka 5. The Public Authority shall furnish the information within 15 days from the date of receipt of a request, and the applicant shall pay the actual cost (as prescribed) for receiving the information.
• A request for access to information under the proposed Act may be refused if the disclosure of such information shall: (1) prejudicially affect the security and integrity of Bangladesh; or (2) affect the government's ability to manage the economy; or (3) affect the enforcement of law; or (4) cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of an individual; or ( 5) result in the breach of parliamentary privileges, or violation of an order of a competent court.

But the present position about enactment of the right to information law is not known. It seems that there is no possibility of the passage of the law in the on-going final session of the 8th parliament.

The question that now arises is: what is preventing the government from enacting the right to information law?

Firstly, the proposed law gives the public the right of access to information held by the public authority. Experience shows that our governments have not been favourably inclined towards the prerequisites for good governance which is characterised, inter alia, by transparency, accountability, and public participation in the process of decision-making.

The alliance government, in particular, has the unparalleled record of turning Bangladesh into the most corrupt nation in the world during all the past four years of its rule. By not enacting the right to information law, the government has proved that it does not want the public to have access to the documents in public offices, which would authoritatively unfold its corrupt activities.

Secondly, there are certain laws prohibiting disclosure of official documents and information: (i) Section 5(1) of the Official Secrets Act, 1923; (ii) Sections 123-124 of the Evidence Act, 1872; (iii) Rule 28(1) of the Rules of Business, 1996; (iv) Rule 19 of the Government Servants (Conduct) Rules, 1979; (v) Oaths (affirmation) of secrecy under the Constitution. Enactment of right to information law will mean scrapping of the aforesaid provisions of the concerned laws.

Thirdly, laws prohibiting disclosure of official information and documents have given rise to a culture of secrecy in public offices. Unscrupulous officials often take advantage of this in government business operations like tender evaluation, tax assessment, etc. In particular, procurement of goods and services, whether local or foreign, is the meeting point of the vested interest groups composed of corrupt senior public servants, their political bosses and the suppliers. The corrupt senior officials thus go on advising their political bosses not to open the official documents for public scrutiny by enacting the right to information law.

To conclude, the need for enacting the right to information law can hardly be overemphasized.

M Abdul Latif Mondal is a former Secretary to the government.