Long Term Benefits of RTI

Information laws can have a positive impact on at least three different spheres of society: Politics, Economics, and Public Administration.

In the political sphere:

• They contribute to the ability of citizens to become aware of and involved in the activities of government.
• This enables them to transform themselves from passive citizens who occasionally go to the polls into active citizens who call the government to account and participate in the design of public policies.
• Overall, this raises the level of political debate and leads to a more productive process of policy making.

In the economic sphere:

• Transparency increases efficiency by making the investment climate more reliable.
• Allowing capital to better calculate where and when it can best be invested.
• The health of the market in the long term depends on a steady and reliable flow of trustworthy information.

In the sphere of public administration:

• Transparency improves the decision making of public servants by making them more responsive and accountable to the public.
• Controls corruption by making it more difficult to hide illegal agreements and action.
• It also improves the legitimacy and trust in government in the eyes of the people, allowing for the more effective implementation of public policies.