Rwanda is currently in process of making an Access to Information Law and a draft bill is in place. The right to access to public information is a constitutional right as enshrined in art. 33 of the Rwanda Constitution as amended to date. The right to free speech and expression include the right to receive and collect information and helps citizens to participate in governance and hold their leaders accountable. Initiated by the Media High Council, the Bill presents an opportune moment for all actors to get involved to have the law not only enacted but also fully implemented. In fostering its mission of promoting good governance and conducting advocacy on behalf of its members; realizing also the urgent need for regulations on access to information in promoting an open democracy and the importance of the involvement of Civil Society Organizations in promoting an open and transparent society: The Rwanda Civil Society Platform (RCSP) with the financial support from the Norwegian Peoples Aid (NPA), organized study trips to countries that are well advanced in implementing the Access to Information laws. The study trips were organized to countries of India and of South Africa based on their manifested experiences in promulgating and implementing the Access to Information Law. The purpose of this tour was to learn from the best practices of other countries and find out how they can be applied to the Rwandan context.
The Specific objectives of this tour were:
The main objectives of the study trips was to equip civil society organizations with skills and best practices on the processes of having and implementing the access to information law in the various countries. The specific objectives of the study tours were;
To learn from the experiences of practicing countries the circumstances that led to, the processes followed in the promulgation of the Access to information act in the host countries and the political and socio-economic and cultural context within which the law is operational.
To understand how citizens and civil society organizations are appropriating the Access to information act to promote their information access rights, hold duty bearers to account and improve general good governance and the challenges they encounter in this process.
To appreciate the provisions of the act and the organizational and institutional framework for making it operational
To appreciate overall, the impact of the act on general access to public information and the promotion of good governance and the challenges encountered in operationalizing the law in the implementing countries.
To obtain an appreciation of implementation best practices, particularly in regard to managing clauses that potentially take back the very same rights granted to citizens (claw-back clauses)
To acquire skills on effective advocacy in relation to the law both before and following its promulgation
Proceedings of the Learning tour: Institutions and personalities visited
The two trips were effected from 4th – 9th April 2011. The team to South was composed of Mr. Karanganwa Fredrick Hendrick Policy and Advocacy Coordinator at RCSP; Mr. Jean Bosco Rushingabigwi from Rwanda Editors from and Mr. Safari Emmanuel the Executive Secretary CLADHO. The host institution in South Africa was ODAC (Open Democracy Advice Center) whilst the group to India was hosted by the Common Wealth Human Rights Initiative in New Delhi. The three-person team to India was composed of Eugene Rwibasira (Head of delegation) from Rwanda Development Organization (RDO), Marcel Museminari from Business Daily Rwanda, a Local Newspaper and Judith Kazaire from Pro-Femmes Twese Hamwe.
Proceedings of the learning trip in South Africa
Meeting with Chantal Kisoon South African Human Rights Commission (SHRC) 4th of April 2011
The South African Human Right Commission is a chapter 9 organization charged with promotion of democracy. It was established under chapter 9 of the South African Constitution. It promotes human rights in general and particularly charged with the role of oversight body on the compliance of public institutions on access to information law.
In accordance with Section 8 of PAIA, it produces guides on the use of PAIA and also facilitates access to information by publishing addresses of information officers in accordance with the same section.
The SAHRC collects annual reports from public institutions on their compliances with (PAIA) Protection of Public Information Act. in case of non compliance of Public Institution to produce there reports, the commission presents recommendations to the parliament and uses a name and shame approach to force compliance of Public Information Officers who don’t comply. It also has an option of taking them to court however this option has not been yet exploited.
Appropriation of the law by the citizens is still week. This is caused by the fact that there was weak sensitization of the public on PAIA after it had been adopted. To overcome this, they work with other institutions like SAHA to conduct sensitization campaigns and training. They also produce IEC materials for community awareness.
The key lesson learnt is that sensitization to raise community awareness of the law, and how they can use it as a tool to promote their other social, political and economic rights is very crucial in the promotion of Freedom of Information (FOI).
Secondly, advocacy for the adoption of the law is important; the overarching goal should be Citizens’ ownership of law.
Meeting with Gabriella Razzano and Tommy ‘O Connor from the South African History Achieve (SAHA) 5th of April 2011
The South African History Achieve (SAHA) was constituted with the aim of collecting and filing information of public interest especially in relation to the Apartheid regime. The organization conducts research and files application for information from public institution on its own, and on behalf of other interested applicants. SAHA facilitates access to information of individual applicants by helping them fill forms and following up on their applications. It also lodges cases on behalf of applicants in case of unjustified refusal of granting information.
SAHA together with the human rights center in the University of Pretoria and SAHRC are also working on the African Modal Law on access to information
SAHA with the freedom of expression institute conduct awareness campaigns on PAIA and they produce IEC materials for the local community. It gives technical support to other organizations that promote PAIA, for example they support the freedom of expression institute in achieving its objective of community sensitization on PAIA.
The lesson learnt was that there should be an institution or program of filling various information of public interest in order to achieve the overall goal of public access to information.
Meeting with the staff and directors of the Public Service Commission (Humphrey Ramafoko) on the 6th April 2011
The PSC took us through their mechanisms of voluntary disclosure as per section 15 of PAIA, how they also deal with online application and their reporting proceeding to the South African Human Rights commission. The application to PSA can be online or hard copy and the information officer who is the Executive Director appoints a Deputy Information Officer who handle applications and informs the Executive Director on the proceedings.
The Public Service Commission also complies with Section 15 by posting all relevant information (Annual reports, strategic plan e.t.c) on its website.
Meeting with Jayshree Pather at the Freedom of Expression Institute 6th April 2011
The Freedom of Expression’s main work consists of training and community sensitization on the rights of citizens on access to information. In this regard they work with SAHA that offers its technical support. However, limited funding does not permit them to cover the whole country. As a result there is limited awareness of RTI by citizens at community level.
Meeting with Mr. Eddie Laubscher at ESKOM 7th of April 2011
Mr. Eddie deputy information officer at ESKOM and also a member of the Information Officers’ forum (NIF) took the group through their IT online system of managing access to information requests. The IT system was impressive, it gives automatic response to the applicant and the timeline within which he/she will get a substantive response to his application.
The system informs the CEO of the company about the request who is also the information officer. It also informs the executive committee on access to information request who in turn decide whether the Deputy Information Officer should proceed with granting the requested information or not.
In addition to this online system ESKOM posters most of the information on its website in accordance to section 15 of PAIA which provides for voluntary maximum disclosure, however, Mr. Eddie also told us that some time they prefer not to grant information if such information once granted is going to antagonize their relationships with their clients. This is based on section 34 and 36 of PAIA which provides for protection of individual information and commercial information of a third party.
There has been a decided case in this regard where ESKOM was sued and the court granted access to information basing on the fact that access to information interest outweighed the interest to protect information.
The most important lesson learnt is on how ESKOM complies with section 19 of PAIA in terms of assisting applicant of information through online and other mechanism. However still PAIA is week in a sense that it provides for complicated forms to be filled by applicants, this is a hindrance especially to the illiterate applicants.
The important lesson learnt from the fact that ESKOM can choose to decline to give information due company interests or its client. Is that if there are no strong sanctions imposed on such institution, it is likely to frustrate the objectives of the Access to information Act. In the same spirit, article 34 of the Rwandan Access to Information Bill should be amended to provide strong sanctions for non compliance in order to fulfill its objective of deterrence of offenders of access to information rights.
Meeting with Adv. E. Chipu and the staff at Metsweding District Municipality 8th of April 2011
The meeting at Metsweding was with the Executive Mayor, Municipal Mayor. Honorable Executive Mayor introduced the meeting and talked about South Africa sharing the same historical facts with Rwanda. Honored to receive a delegation from Rwanda she said that as they put it in their saying “each one teach all”, the hosts were happy to teach and learn from the delegation.
She said that their challenge has been about recording history to the fact that sometimes they lack records that are important to the Public. To overcome this they have put in place a council department in charge of filling reports and records of the council committee.
Mr. Adv. E. Chipu the Deputy Information Officer at Metsweding took the group through how they handle application on access to information. He told them that they also had an opportunity to carry out exchange visits in Sweden and acquire relevant skill on promotion of access to information freedoms. Unlike ESKOM that has online services, they only receive application in hard copies. Mr. Chipu is also a member of the information officer forum.
The challenge is that the community has not yet appropriated PAIA and as a result there is a small turn up of applicants. In order to counteract this problem, Metsweding is working with SAHA to conduct sensitization campaigns on PAIA.
The lessons learnt were the fact that the capacity of Public institutions to keep records need to be emphasized in all endeavors related to the promotion of Freedom of Information (FOI).
Evaluation of the South African trip in relation to its objectives
The Trip was very useful and such a trip is recommended for the institution that is going to be charged with the role of oversight body. We did not only learn from their success stories buts from their failures as well. Alliance with hosting institutions ware created and further collaboration on promotion access to information freedoms is expected.
The circumstances that led to, the processes followed in the promulgation of the Access to information act was that the system of government in South Africa before 27th April 1994 resulted in a secretive and unresponsive culture in public and private bodies and this often led to abuse of power and human rights violations.[1] After the Apartheid regime, the ANC government led by President Mandela was pro- disclosure of Public Information and this political will made it easy for the promulgation of PAIA. However, little efforts were put in community sensitization on how they can use the PAIA to foster other economic, Social and political rights. Consequently there has been little Citizens’ Ownership of the Law, only a limited elite and business group of people have used this Law to promote their economical rights, thus limiting the potential of PAIA to positively impact Citizens lives.
The protection of Public Information Act: is a law that is being proposed to be passed by the government and there is a robust feeling that this might take back the same rights provided for in PAIA. However CSOs including the South African Human Rights Commission, (NIF) Nation Information Officers Forum are engaged in the process of elaboration to make sure that information protected under this act is not of great interest to the public and its protection outweighs the public interest to access to information.
Low cost of production of information: The cost of application is only limited to production and multiplication cost. PAIA also provides for pro-active disclosure of public information and time line when information must be granted.
PAIA is still weak in a sense that it provides for complicated forms to be filled by applicants, this is a hindrance especially to the illiterate applicants and strong sanctions are always needed in order to deter offenders of access to information rights.
Proceedings of the Learning tour in India: Institutions and personalities visited
Common Wealth Human Rights Initiative (Host institution): The RTI evolution, Philosophy and best practice principles
The first day of the trip was spent at the Common Wealth Human Rights Initiative exchange knowledge on the Indian and Rwandan Contexts in relation to Access to Information Law. The CHRI took the visiting team through the evolution, philosophy and best practice principles on the Right to Information Act (RTI) in India. The host institution explained that the main challenge in India was to transform the country’s governance from an electoral democracy to participatory Democracy to enable citizens acquire their full rights in a twenty eight – semi autonomous province state. According to CHRI, the right to information must be guaranteed by a strong legislation and the process of law-making itself must be participatory and informed by the realities of the community concerned.
The Constitution of India does not explicitly grant a right to information. However, the Supreme Court of India (the country’s highest court) has held in several cases that the right to information is implicit in the constitutionally enshrined rights to freedom of speech and expression (Article 19 (1)(a) and right to life and liberty (Article 21).
The Right to Information Act in India was propelled by massive abuse of citizens’ rights and entitlements which prompted the Civil Society Organizations to seek to verify registers and other public records on what was actually going on. Particular interest was centered on why government-subsidized entitlements for the poor were not delivered to beneficiaries, why there were many criminals in politics – need to know whether there was a crime list on record in the relevant government departments and many other cases. Because of such urge to get information, many civil society gatherings demanded much information from government. In the Indian Law, Disclosure[2] is the norm and only operational information is the secret.
One of the core principles of best practices is solidarity among the Civil Society Organizations to fight for a common cause.
At this similar session, the Rwandan visiting team made a brief account on the evolution and content of the Rwanda draft law on Access to Information.
The CHRI manifested RTI as instrumental as it guarantees a very citizen right to obtain information pertaining to any issue of public interest. The RTI application in India has key elements that describe its format and content. The application must possess a name and address of the applicant, the date, name and address of the public authority, the Public Information Officer, description of the required information and period for which it is required, forms of access (photocopy, CDs, Certified copies or samples), if inspection is required, indicate the duration. Others are the proof of fee[3] payment
Dialogue with Prof. Shekhar Singh, National Campaign for People’s Right to Information: The Right to Information Campaign in India
Professor Singh took the team through the national campaign that led to the promulgation of the Right to Information Act in India.
According to him, the supreme court of India made the first ruling on the right to information as far back as 1975. However, no attempt was made by either the Central or the State Governments to implement a simple and effective access to information regime until after the launching of campaigns for freedom of information by civil society.[4] Close to 1990s, a serious demand for information was triggered by dangerous chemicals produced by Union Turbine which claimed people’s lives. The Supreme Court then issued an order to avail the information. This was followed by movements at grass roots levels because of serious exploitation.
The first and most well-known right to information movement in India was the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), which began its right to information work in Rajasthan state during the early 1990s. MKSS’s struggle for access to village accounts and transparency in administration is widely credited with having sparked off the right to information movement across India.
From the mid-1990s, a national campaign for the enactment of a central law on right to information gained momentum. In 1996, a National Campaign for People’s Right to Information was launched. After much struggle, the Central Government enacted the Indian Freedom of Information Act in 2002. The Act represents an important step towards actualising the Right to Information, but has been criticized for not going far enough. It had a clause which said that the law would come into force after notification by government, which never happened.
After elections in 2004, a National Advisory Council was established and this had Access to Information Act on the agenda. Thus in 2005, a Right to Information Act was enacted.
The professor recommended that to have a good law in Rwanda, it was imperative to compile all elements on access to information from all the laws, establish a clear procedure to obtain information, to fight the impression that Access to Information Law is Media Freedom Law and to conduct strategic meetings with sympathetic people in government circles.
Visit to Institute of Secretariat Training and Management: Training of Duty Bearers to implement RTI Act
The Director of the Institute, Dr. Khwaja Shahid informed the team that the institute was put in place specifically to build the capacity of duty bearers charged with implementation of the Right to Information Act. Suffice to note that the Act applies to only public authorities and can only be used by Indian citizens. The duty bearers trained include; appellate authorities, central public information officers, government officials and trainers on RTI development. The courses covered include; Records management, re-engineering office processes, mandatory inputs to the RTI and organizational skills among others.
The institute echoed that RTI was a critical tool to fight corruption and arbitrary use of power, promote ethical and participative democracy, promote accountability and facilitate smooth communication between leadership and citizens. The law guarantees maximum disclosure, institutes an effective mechanism to access information at a reasonable cost and stringent penalties for defiance.
The institute however highlighted a number of challenges faced in the effective implementation of the RTI Act among them; difficulty in changing people’s mind set in availing information, poor records management, and lack of awareness and skill of drafting applications on the part of the public as well as inadequate infrastructure including manpower.
Dialogue with Joint Secretary of Department of Training and Personnel, Rajeev Kapoor: Government’s Efforts to implement the RTI Act
The Joint Secretary acknowledged that the RTI was pushed by the Civil Society in India and that the law has sharpened the teeth of the civil society in demanding accountability. He noted that government is very supportive of the RTI and a back system ought to be established to push public institutions to work well in proactively disclosing information. He said that India government had facilitates training of personnel on RTI and done a lot of publications on the same. He recommended that there be an impact assessment to know the level of achievement of the RTI.
Meeting with the Anjali Bhardwaj, Director, Satark Nagarik Sangathan: RTI as a tool for seeking accountability at the community level
Satark Nagarik Sangathan is a civil society organization working at the local communities. This organization uses the RTI to seek for records on the government food subsidized rations for poor people in the communities to verify whether they really get their entitlements. According to them, the major connection is between information access and people’s entitlements and needs. The RTI also facilitates them to obtain information on elected representatives and existence of the local area development fund which is entrusted to them. They however raised the challenge of lack of awareness of the RTI.
Meeting with information Commissioners at the Central Information Commission: The role and functioning of the Central Information Commission
At the Central Information Commission, the team met with two of the central information commissioners, Ms Deepak Sandhu and Shri. Shailesh Gandhi. The commission is an independent appeals body at second degree specifically established to hear right to information complaints under the RTI Act.
The commission resolves complaints through public hearing like in a court. The set up is like in a court where there is a judge, the defense, the appellate, a court clerk and witnesses. They use high level technology such that at the end of the hearing, the judgment is ready and the parties to the case know the decision.
Another unique feature is that one of the information commissioners, Shri. Shailesh Gandhi has a civil society background where he used to be part of the group that advocated for enactment and implementation of the RTI Act. As such, he is a strategic official in the enforcement of the law.
The Commissioners explained that, the commission has branch offices in the 28 states of India and they can handle cases at the Headquarters courtesy of good information Technology set ups. Basically, they teleconferences and people do not have to travel all the way to New Delhi. At the time of the visit, the team had chance to attend some hearings.
The Commissioners noted that the RTI Act in India has empowered people to demand for their rights and to demand accountability from the government and leaders through access to information.
Dialogue with Mr. Bharat Wakhlu, Resident Director, Tata Services Ltd: Importance of RTI to the Business Community
Tata Services Limited a car-manufacturing factory in India. The factory discussed with the team on the importance of RTI Act to the business community in the country. The Resident Director noted that the RTI was a good tool to the corporate sector especially to be transparent and to engage the people on social ownership of resources like time and cooperation. The RTI he said promotes high quality corporate responsibility because the public can access information on losses and profits and therefore expect a big contribution to the communities’ development. He highlighted that Tata was beyond the law in guaranteeing basic rights like paid leave, maternity leave, providing free education and working eight hours per day since 1912. He noted there’s no friction between private sector and government
He recommended that for RTI Act to be more effective there was strong need to promote an e-governance system. Tata was the last the institution to meet the team.
The Gender perspective of access to information
Gender equality promotion in India is facing as many challenges as elsewhere in the world. All the institutions and personalities visited did not have much to offer on Gender equality. They noted that the RTI Act did address any gender issues but is rather general to all citizens. Here one may wonder whether needs of men and women are catered for in a very similar way. Although some women are in decision making positions, gender still faces discriminatory tendencies in India.
Analysis of the team on Indian Access to Information Law
The achievements/impact of the Right to Information Act in India
The existence of the Right to Information Act has promoted the aspect of social Audit within the communities. Among the case studies learned about, the civil society goes down to the communities to verify whether development programs actually are implemented in the given area. For instance if its construction of schools, apart from verifying the existence of buildings, they go ahead to monitor whether the materials used are the appropriate ones. Other cases are of construction of boreholes in the communities and provision of food rations. This has in turn enhanced transparency, accountability and development.
The law has enhanced pro active disclosure because information is proactively posted to websites, newspapers and institutions’ notice boards. In other words, there is element of secrecy anymore of the kept public records. Even the Public Information Officers who defy the law are penalized.
The RTI is used by Civil Society to promote human rights. The team received information on cases where CSOs go prisons to demand the actual situation and numbers of juvenile prisoners. By RTI Act, anyone is free to demand and access the statistics and current status of the prisoners and some of them are found imprisoned unfairly and subsequently get released.
The law has further improved service delivery because denial or delay in availing information is subject to penalty. As such, people may provide information even unwillingly to avoid penalties. The uniqueness in the penalty also is that it is infringed on the real person who denied information or on his/her personal income.
The law, as some officials pointed out, has sharpened the teeth of the Civil Society Organizations in monitoring and enhancing public accountability. A good example is the case of a demonstration that happened during that week of the visit. An old man by the names of Anna Hazare staged a demonstration by going on a hunger-strike at one of the Delhi City squares. He was demanding that government enacts a law against corruption and incorporates the views of Civil Society. After three days of hunger strike, a Minister in charge resigned and government succumbed to Anna Hazare’s demands. From this, we learnt that Civil Society can really influence policies.
The law provides for a simpler way of accessing justice for denial of information. It provides for a specified commission with public hearings which save many people of court procedures and bureaucracies. This has improved mind sets of the leadership towards availing public information.
Key best practices in the implementation of the Access to Information Law
The following are some of the best practices the team deemed important;
i) The practice of public hearing of appeals cases for denial of information. The Rwandan draft law does not provide for clear procedure to be followed by the enforcement institution.
ii) The aspect of social audit is key in the enforcement of the law
iii) A specific institution to enforce the law is in place as opposed to the office of the ombudsman with other numerous duties
iv) The law in India has enhanced citizen participation and the role of civil society.
Challenges in implementation of the Law
Although India has attained commendable progress in using the Right to Information Act, some challenges still stand in their way. Notable among those are the following;
i) Lack of sufficient awareness about the law among the population
ii) Some public institutions still have a negative attitude towards availing information hence frustrating the implementation of the law
iii) Lack sufficient infrastructure including personnel. Because so many people request information at the same time, this makes the entire work ineffective and costly. Thus the whole process requires additional human and financial resources.
iv) There are cases where people can seek information for ill intentions and this has bearing on the general attitude towards accessing information.
v) Low internet penetration for proper e-record keeping and management which makes it difficult to avail and access information.
Recommendations
Rwanda needs to draw lessons from other countries for the Access to Information bill to be a successful tool for change; the following recommendations may be considered.
It is imperative to compile all elements on access to information from all the laws, establish a clear procedure to obtain information, to fight the impression that Access to Information Law is Media Freedom Law and to conduct strategic meetings with sympathetic people in government circles.
Alongside meetings and lobbying, there’s great need for media engagement to create wider awareness on the importance of access to information Law in the country. The CSOs ought to undertake advocacy that includes; policy submissions, articles for publication, producing booklets, fliers, brochures, posters as well as trainings and workshops.
Government needs to drastically improve the records management system to prepare for accessibility and availability of information.
Where possible, government should consider including access to information in the education curriculum.
Civil Society and government itself should consider conducting as many social audits as possible.
There is dire need to forge strategic partnerships with other campaigners of access to information in the region and beyond. As one of the leading campaigners for the right to information, CHRI can be a strategic partner.
Conclusion
The trip was conducted successfully and as mentioned earlier, the group learnt from both the success and failures of South Africa and India. It is highly recommended that emphasis should be put on community sensitization. It is also recommended that the institution (Ombudsman) charged with the role of oversight body should conduct such a visit before it is operational. However it was also noticed that an independent commission should be the one charged with this role of oversight body instead of the office ombudsman.
THANK U!!
[1] See the preamble of the Promotion of Access to Information Act
[2] Sec 4 of the Indian RTI says, “ ……Information shall be disseminated as widely as possible and in such form and manner which is easily accessible to the public, including through notice boards, newspapers, public announcements, media, internet, inspection”.
[3] Sec 7 (5) of the Indian Law says, “the fees must be reasonable and will not be imposed where the applicant is below the poverty line. Amount is prescribed. Information is provided free if the public authority fails to comply with time limits”.
[4]Notably, effective right to information legislation is important even where a constitutional right exists because it ensures that people do not have to go to court every time they want to exercise the right, and puts in place simple, clear and regular procedures which can be easily utilised by all.
