Informed citizens are key to democracy

NAIROBI: The reported monumental corruption in the highest echelons of Government and public service is a manifestation of the growing systemic failure of good governance and rule of law. With many public officials accumulating wealth disproportionate with their legal sources of income, public disclosure of information on source of wealth is critical in ensuring transparency and accountability. It is a case of “sunlight is the best disinfectant”.

Edmund Burke observed that “all persons possessing a portion of power ought to be strongly and awfully impressed with an idea that they act in trust and that they are to account for their conduct in that trust”.

Accountability of all public officials, elected or appointed, must be viewed in the context of mandatory requirement for holders of public office to be answerable to the people in ways that are transparent, accessible and effective.

The wielders of power in legislative, executive and judicial arms of State are entrusted to perform their functions on condition that they account for their stewardship to the people who authorise them to exercise such power. To effectively tackle corruption, the country demands a watertight access to information law. Further, all judicial and/or public officials must undergo thorough audit of their lifestyles to ascertain whether their wealth is within their legitimate income. Also, all public officials should be barred from doing any business, direct or indirect, with the Government. If one is associated with any company that applies for Government tenders, it must be fully disclosed, failure to which one should face automatic sacking and prosecution.

Democracy expects openness. It is critical to disinfect government for a healthy inclusive and shared wealth of the country to be enjoyed by every citizen. As it has declared that it has adopted the principle of transparency, the Government should open all doors for scrutiny.

The 21st century is the information age. The world is driven by knowledge economy. However, the largest part of the population still has limited access to quality, timely and accurate information to enable to participate in political and economic processes that affect their lives. Making informed choices is still restricted to a small political and bureaucratic elite at the top. Consultation on important policy matters, even when they directly concern the people, is rarely the practice. The consultative processes are severely undermined and devoid of genuine participation of those who are usually most affected by such government policies and programmes.

Government information is a national resource. Neither the government of the day, nor public officials create information for their own benefit. The greater the access to information by the citizens, the greater the responsiveness of the Government to community needs. Conversely, the greater the restrictions on “access” the greater the feelings of “powerlessness” and alienation.

Without information, people cannot adequately exercise their rights and responsibilities as citizens or make informed choices. The Government’s information is generated for the purpose related to the legitimate discharge of its duties and for the service of the public for whose well-being the institutions exist, and who ultimately fund the institutions of government and the salaries of public officials. Accordingly, the Government and its officials are “trustees” of the information on behalf of the people.

When citizens are denied accurate, veritable and timely information, they become unequal partners in their relationship with government institutions. This undermines the country’s democratic development. Further, transparency and accountability of Government and public officials are blocked. People have an inalienable human right to seek and receive government held information.

The importance of the Right to Information to the realisation of people’s democratic and development rights cannot be understated. Indeed, in 1946 the United Nations General Assembly recognised that ‘Freedom of Information is a fundamental human right and the touchstone for all freedoms to which the United Nations is consecrated. This is because, without information, people do not have full control over their own lives. A gulf is established between rulers and the ruled, and the principles of dignity and equality that form the basis of international human rights law are undermined.

Access to Information law is an important and far-reaching legislation that has great significance for all three sectors of public life namely public service, private sector and civil society. It recognises that information is not just a necessity for people, it is an essential part of good corporate and state governance. Weak companies and bad governments need secrecy to survive. Secrecy allows inefficiency, wastefulness and corruption to thrive.