Male’, Maldives – President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, on Monday, has said that reluctancy to be transparent with information may lead to corruption.
President Solih said this in a statement given to a supplement by the Attorney General’s Office, to mark the International Day for Universal Access to Information. In this regard, President Solih said that the constitutional rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of press and the right to information vital for the accountability of the leaders and employees of the state.
He added that reluctancy to reveal information allows more opportunity for corruption and that accountability and integrity within a system increases with transparency.
“As it is only possible to ensure the constitutional rights of the people are upheld by relying this power to the people, withholding information with regards to the work of the state is not within the authority of the employees of the state. The people have a right to access this information. And it is the responsibility of every employee of the government to respect this right.” The President said.
He further said that the Information Commissioner’s Office was established for this exact purpose and that it is the policy of the government to ensure that people have access to the information the require of the state.
