Promoting transparency: Govt officials sensitised on importance of full disclosure

LAHORE:

A government can ensure transparency only by providing citizens with free access to information about its operations. Disclosure of information allows citizens to hold their governments accountable and prevent corruption, Urban Unit Chief Executive Officer Nasir Javed said at a training workshop on the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information Act of 2013.

The full-day workshop on Thursday was attended by officials from the City District Government of Lahore and the Water and Sanitation Agency and several NGOs. It was arranged under a World Bank-funded Punjab Cities Governance Improvement Project’s public disclosure and access to information component. The project is underway in five cities: Lahore, Rawalpindi, Multan, Gujranwala and Faisalabad.

The Urban Unit CEO said similar trainings would also be held for public officials in other cities. He said after completion of trainings, the project team would evolve mechanisms to ensure proactive disclosure of information. These could include establishment of an online portal where financial and procurement information of government departments would be uploaded and a forum set up for citizens to contact the departments with questions.

He said with the PCGP project the government intended to strengthen the institutional capacity of  local governments.

The workshop featured presentations, activities and a quiz on public disclosure and access to information mechanisms. The keynote speeches were given by the Punjab Information Commissioner and the Digital Rights Foundation executive director.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2015.