Right to information is part of the sovereignty of the people. As such Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe said that the Right to Information Bill was being moved in Parliament.
Opening the debate on the Second Reading of the Bill, the Prime Minister pointed out that hereafter no Government would be able to conceal information with the approval of the Right to Information Bill.
The Prime Minister said that the Bill was not approved from 2004 to 2015. Queries were made in Parliament from time to time but they did not receive a proper response. The right to information is a right of the people. It is part of the people’s sovereignty. Massive damaged had been caused in the past five to 10 years as information was not received. The then Ministers said that they were not aware of the information.
The Prime Minister said a massive sum of money had been wasted. The country is indebted to a sum of 1300 billion rupees for Sri Lankan Airlines and other institutions. A different situation would have prevailed if they were aware of the information. They came to know some facts only after assuming office. He blamed that a Right to Information Bill was not brought forward to prevent access to information thereby increasing the state of corruption.
The Prime Minister said that no Government would hereafter be able to conceal information. Other than India in South Asia, Sri Lanka has put forward the best Right to Information Bill. The country’s administrative machinery should be responsible to the people. He added that this initiative has been taken to give all information to carry forward democracy.