Rti Act Promulgation Scenario In Nepal

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

The Legislature-Parliament of Nepal passed the Right to Information Act in July, 2007. Its preamble clearly stated that "it is expedient to make the function of the state open and transparent in accordance with the democratic system and to make responsible and accountable to the citizen; to make the access of citizens simple and easy to the information of public importance held in public bodies." (Government of Nepal-Ministry of Information and Communication , 2007)

Right to information (RTI) is also known as the freedom of information, free access to information, or the right to know. In another words, it is the practice of open and transparent governance by an open government. Therefore, it is considered as one of the fundamental steps for good governance and effective democratization.

However, Freedom of Information, as a citizen's right, has only been more recently incorporated, when compared to other fundamental rights in Nepal. It has been almost two decades that the state acknowledged the people's access to information as a fundamental right with the adoption of the 1990 constitution. The right to information (RTI), despite being guaranteed since 1990, was only effectively activated in July, 2007 (Dahal, 2013).

The Executive Summary of The World Bank Report-2011 on Implementation of the RIT in Nepal noted that public bodies have done little to meet their extensive obligations under the law and that many had not even appointed dedicated information officers. Further, it stated that most of the information subject to proactive disclosure under the law remains unpublished. Consequently, implementation of the RTI in Nepal has been weak so far.

The reasons for this lack of implementation are various. For example, not having an appointed information officer, not having proper documentation of case specific activities, or the reluctance of government/public agencies to provide information may be inhibitors. Pathak (2011) said "The Nepali press, which continuously fought for 18 years to get this Act, has not succeeded in utilizing this Act in their research and investigative reporting because of the government's ineffective implementation mechanism. Also, it was greatly realized during the first convention on RTI, which was held in Kathmandu on March 28-29, 2011. A paper, presented by the Nepal Government at the Convention, showed that only 3 percent of the total public agencies have appointed information officers".

Implementing the RTI in an under-developed, post-conflict and politically unstable country is difficult. Operating under a caretaker government since the end of June 2010 has presented some major challenges. It has not been easy to manage proper human resource assignment for every public office. Moreover, a strong secrecy culture within the government has further hindered development.

RTI act promulgation scenario in Nepal:

Media contribution:

The Nepalese communication media contributed towards the development and sanction of the RTI Act significantly, as they fought with the government for nearly two decades to see it passed. However, when the RTI Act was announced, media personnel did not visualize or determine any implementation strategies. Concern was generated to impel the government to assign an information officer with mass communication background in each government/public office and the immediate impact was good as new job opportunities became available for jobless professionals. However, without appropriate follow through in effective implementation, the long term impact has clearly been detrimental.

Library professional’s impact:

Realizing this situation, some academic librarians and Central Department of Library and Information Science (CDLIS) lecturers and students advocated for the RTI and suggested that the Nepal government utilize the Government Library as an information center and a library officer be appointed as an information management and dissemination officer. Following this initiative, Ramesh Prajuli a then student of the CDLIS, wrote a small article in the national daily-Kantipur newspaper indicating that the government should use their libraries as information agencies instead of opening new sections in each government department. Further, it was suggested that government librarians should be the chief source of information. To date, no action has been taken by the bureaucracy. (Prajuli, 2007)

Similarly, one of Prajuli’s colleagues (a Government library officer) shared his experience of when the RTI Act came to effect. Subsequently, around 17 government library officers gathered in one place and discussed possible ways for implementing the RTI-Act services in government library services. About 5 meetings were held regarding the matter but no concrete results ensued. The discussions that took place, however, were all important.

Case of Election Commission Library:

The Election Commission Nepal (ECN) was engaged in the management of the Constituent Assembly Election-2008, when the RTI-Act was declared by the government. Therefore, the ECN assigned Mr. Komal Prashad Dhamala (Under Secretary) as an Information Authority in 2010, three years after the Act declaration.

Meanwhile, the ECN prepared a Strategic Plan 2009-13, where one of the major issues raised was the need to establish an Electoral Education and Information Center (EEIC). Hence, the EEIC was established with support of AUSAID at the ECN premises and has been in operation since May 24, 2011 after it was formally inaugurated by the President of Nepal, Dr. Rambaran Yadav.

The EEIC aims to provide electoral information dissemination, voter education, outreach and research and development. Library and Research service forms the one part of the EEIC including other electoral/voter education and information services. Mr. Komal Prashad Dhamala is the Executive Director of the Center, who is also performing the role of an information authority assigned by ECN since 2010.

With the establishment of EEIC, the ECN moved one step ahead to dealing with RTI-Act in Nepal. The ECN related activities are communicated via the center. General public, media personnel, and researchers are accessing the center as their first step because of the center’s convenient location and users have greater awareness of the need to take services from the information centers only.

Being the constitutional body, at the moment the Commission is trying to make its activities more transparent to the public. To ensure an open government code of conduct it has improved its record file management systems via subject categories. Most of the reports have been disseminated via library and research services at EEIC. Similarly, electoral law related party manifesto, party constitutions, and party finance documents are also available through it. Meanwhile, ECN is trying to develop its new dynamic website and electoral database, where proactively generated ECN reports have been disseminated to its concerned users. Visitors have the option to select their category as a researcher, new voter, observer, or journalist in order to achieve information relevant to their specific disciplines.

Recognizing the ECN library services, combined with the EEIC, it can be inferred that the ECN is doing justice with the theme of RTI-Act in Nepal. The Information Center is disseminating information effectively because the library has as its core business the management of information.

Conclusion and Recommendations:

The Government needs to improve its record management system as it is currently a major barrier between it and public organizations. The World Bank also recommended to the National Information Commission (NIC) in their report, to work with other expert bodies, including the Nepal National Archives, to develop a set of minimum record management standards for public bodies (The World Bank, 2011). It is the author's opinion, that "other expert bodies" could be the Nepal National Library and other library professionals working in Nepal. If information officers are not from a library and information science background, they need to be trained in document management and archiving systems for effective services.

The current status of the RTI-Act in Nepal is effectively almost the same as it was 3 years ago when the first convention was held in Kathmandu. With the passing of time, one questions why information officers have not been able to acquire and manage appropriate information and why they are unable to provide the right information to the right users at the right time. One is left to believe that a problem exists in the selection of appropriate personnel for these important jobs. The focus on choosing mass communication professionals who are not associated with managing information sources over library and information science background professionals could be the basis of the problem. Library and information science professionals have been practicing the required skills as their core business. Consequently, the information officer’s position must be open to library and information science professionals not mass communication professionals to ensure effective implementation of the RTI-Act and fostering open government philosophy, policy and information would more likely be successful.

From the government’s perspective, most of the government/public organizations have their own library and information centers in Nepal, managed by government librarians and supported by government bodies. All of the librarians are involved with acquiring, processing, managing, and disseminating appropriate information to their stakeholders/users. It is logical, therefore, that every government library and information center should handle the RTI process. Greater cost effectiveness could be achieved by utilizing the existing library system and personnel to disseminate and provide access to information, successfully implement the RTI Act and develop transparency and open government in Nepal.