Make corporates answerable: Bangladesh information chief

DHAKA - Bangladesh’s Chief Information Officer (CIC) wants that the Right to Information Act be amended to cover corporate offices and MNCs operating in the country to effectively combat corruption.

According to CIC Muhammad Zamir, bringing them under the RTI’s purview was essential to ensure transparency and accountability of business organisations.

“Necessary measures need to be taken to bring the multinational corporations and corporate offices within the purview of the Right to Information Act. This will expand the accountability and the transparency of these organisations,” Zamir said in an interview with New Age newspaper.

Besides government offices and NGOs, all other institutions should also be made accountable to the public since they have their stake there, he said.

RTI is a new concept in Bangladesh that is ranked among the lowest in the corruption chart by the Transparency International, a global body that monitors the level and extent of corruption in a country.

The CIC said the government offices/departments now realise that they are legally bound to provide answer to questions from the public and they have to do this within a prescribed legal time frame.

“Otherwise, under this act, necessary measures can be taken against the recalcitrant party,” Zamir said.

“We are creating a paradigm which will help in curbing corruption and ensure citizens’ right information.”

He said corruption emanates from misgovernance or withholding of fundamental rights of the citizens.