RTI was never meant to be a nuisance for governments, departments, or institutions. It was meant to be a tool for citizens to ask questions of those exercising public power.
Yet, increasingly, citizens hear the same responses:
"Not under RTI." "Does not concern you." "Information unavailable." "Exempted from disclosure."
Sometimes exemptions are legitimate. National security, personal privacy, and sensitive investigations require protection.
But excessive secrecy creates a different problem, public institutions begin scrutinizing citizens while citizens are denied the ability to scrutinize institutions.
Democracy does not function on trust alone. It functions on verifiable information. Accountability is impossible when decisions, appointments, expenditures, contracts, and administrative actions disappear behind opaque walls.
RTI is important because corruption, favoritism, inefficiency, and abuse of power rarely announce themselves voluntarily. Transparency is often the only mechanism through which citizens, journalists, researchers, and activists can uncover wrongdoing.
Every sector that spends public money, exercises public authority, or influences public life should be subject to meaningful transparency requirements. The principle should be simple,
The more power an institution has over citizens, the greater should be its obligation to answer citizens' questions.
Information is not the property of officials. In a democracy, information generated through public authority ultimately belongs to the public.