Maldives Govt Achieves 100 Percent Proactive Disclosure Under RTI Act

In a groundbreaking development that marks a significant leap forward for transparency and accountability in governance, all government ministries and the President's Office have achieved 100 percent compliance in proactive disclosure under the Right to Information (RTI) Act for the first time in history. 

This achievement comes even without the filing of formal RTI requests, representing a voluntary commitment to openness that officials are calling revolutionary.

This milestone marks the first instance since the RTI Act came into force that all government ministries along with the President's Office have made the mandatory information public without requiring citizens to file formal requests, according to a senior government official. 

Information Commissioner Ahid Rasheed confirmed that all required information has now been made publicly accessible through official channels.

In a post on social media platform X, Commissioner Ahid highlighted that the President's Office and 16 ministries have achieved an average of 100 percent of the information required for proactive disclosure—a dramatic increase from the previous average of just 34 percent. 

"I appreciate all the teams that did this work," he said , emphasising that the task of compliance may not be prestigious or remarkable, but it is essential and important. 

"Reaching this goal isn't the end—it's the beginning," he added.

The government has outlined several key priorities—bringing all agencies under the ministries to full compliance level, maintaining published information, reaching higher levels of conformance standards, and ensuring timely response to all RTI submissions.

Under the RTI Act, a total of 13 categories of information—including details of agencies' operational structure, services rendered, and employees—must be made public at least once a year for easy public access by each agency on its own initiative.

The government has also demonstrated its commitment to responding to RTI requests. According to official data, a total of 288 RTIs were filed from May last year to May 1 this year, of which 233 have been answered so far, with the remainder currently in process.