Shelved Right To Information Bill Which Continues To Keep The Public In The Dark Linked To Blackouts

A high-placed source within the Government today said that the current blackouts are possibly linked to the desire to keep the public in the dark as evidenced by the recent shelving of the Right To Information Bill.

The bill, aimed at illuminating the people of Sri Lanka with regards to government and its minister’s actions and practices, was one of the key highlights of the Good Governance mandate through which the current government came into power. But after many fluctuations with regards to the content and mechanisms of the bill, it was decided that it would be better to forget about it in hope that it would be dimmed from the public’s memory that such an idea was ever presented.

The source, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said “All I know is that when the CEB engineers went to inspect the transformer that was said to have been the cause of the blackouts, they found traces of the RTI bill which had been scorched. This could suggest a link between it and the on-going disruption in power. We understand that in addition to the intermittent electricity blackout, the media minister has requested a prolonged media blackout with regards to this bill”.

The government denies the claim and said it would be shedding light on the matter imminently.