THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION BILL community awareness/consultation campaign conducted by Transparency International Vanuatu (TIV) throughout the south eastern part of the island of Ambrym was completed successfully after reaching almost fifty percent (50%) of the population during the first three days of the 10th RTI Bill Consultation.
The TIV Team on the island began the campaign at the village of Endu, which is close to the north eastern part of the island, and finished at Taviak village which the southernmost village in the south east region of Ambrym island.
Feedback received by community leaders had been positive, at every meeting everyone showed support for the RTI Bill. A law enforcement officer on the island expressed his appreciate for the RTI Bill when he said that “If this Bill pass I will be very happy. It will help us a lot. For now everything is easier for the people in Port Vila. But when this RTI Bill becomes law it will be easier for us in the rural areas to access information”.
“This information is exactly what the people of South East need” said the Area Secretary of the South East Ambrym Area Council Mr. Kerbi.
Mr. Kerbi had joined the TIV Team right at the start, and was there to farewell them when they journeyed on by boat to the western side of the island to continue the consultation process. He was instrumental in organising the community meetings and arranging the each days’ schedules.
Almost one thousand (1,000) people of south east Ambrym were informed of the RTI Bill, and a hundred percent of them showed support for the RTI Bill.
The TIV Team that is doing the community consultation work is looking forward to move on to the next region which is the Efate Offshore Islands. When the preparation stages are complete Transparency International Vanuatu will continue to update you on its community consultation schedules.
Also, this notice also goes out to the people of Erromango, if you would like the TIV Team
to come to your village please contact us by Tel: 25175, or you can visit the office so that we can begin to identify the places we can visit.
Again, this RTI Bill will affect us all, therefore it is important to know about it before it becomes law. Transparency International Vanuatu, with assistance from our partners will continue to lobby, advocate, and push for anti-corruption tools like the RTI Bill to become a reality so that we can achieve transparency and accountability in our decisions and choices.
This RTI campaign tours are funded by the Pacific Leadership Program (PLP) who supports Transparency International Vanuatu’s work with the Government’s Right to Information (RTI) Unit to raise awareness and promote public interest in the RTI Policy and Bill. PLP’s support has enabled TIV to campaign in communities and schools and host public forums on the RTI Policy and Bill, using its strong networks in the provinces.
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