RIGHT TO INFORMATION
Dublin Core
Title
RIGHT TO INFORMATION
DR. S. B. M. MARUME
DR. A. S.CHIKASHA
T. M.CHIUNYE
Description
According to available literature on administrative behaviour in public administration, one of the
essential elements of public accountability and control in modern democratic societies is the aspect of right to
information. The concept of right to information is used to refer to the freedom of people to have access to
government information which means that the citizens and non-governmental organizations should enjoy a
reasonably free access to all files and documents pertaining to the governmental decisions, operations, and
performance. In other words, it means openness and transparency in the functioning of government. Thus, the
principle of openness and transparency looks antithetical to the factor of secrecy in public administration. As
rightly observed by Paras Kuhad, the factor of secrecy as a componental part of executive privilege or
transparency through right to information which of the two be adopted as a paradigm for governance. Both
factors offer public interest as their rationale but for entirely different explanations. The reasonable question
that arises is:
Can the two factors be harmonized to avoid apparent contradictory explanations and interpretations?
It is significant to note that in 1992, the World Bank released a document entitled” Governance and
Development”, which document has mentioned seven important elements of good governance one of them being
right to information and transparency. Therefore, the topical issue of right to information forms the subject of
this article
essential elements of public accountability and control in modern democratic societies is the aspect of right to
information. The concept of right to information is used to refer to the freedom of people to have access to
government information which means that the citizens and non-governmental organizations should enjoy a
reasonably free access to all files and documents pertaining to the governmental decisions, operations, and
performance. In other words, it means openness and transparency in the functioning of government. Thus, the
principle of openness and transparency looks antithetical to the factor of secrecy in public administration. As
rightly observed by Paras Kuhad, the factor of secrecy as a componental part of executive privilege or
transparency through right to information which of the two be adopted as a paradigm for governance. Both
factors offer public interest as their rationale but for entirely different explanations. The reasonable question
that arises is:
Can the two factors be harmonized to avoid apparent contradictory explanations and interpretations?
It is significant to note that in 1992, the World Bank released a document entitled” Governance and
Development”, which document has mentioned seven important elements of good governance one of them being
right to information and transparency. Therefore, the topical issue of right to information forms the subject of
this article
Publisher
Journal of Research in Humanities and Social Science
Date
2016
Files
Collection
Citation
“RIGHT TO INFORMATION,” ZOU Institutional Repository, accessed July 6, 2025, https://ir.zou.ac.zw/items/show/185.
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