Wastage and corruption in most government institutions had gone down after introducing the Right to Information Act (RTI), Speaker Karu Jayasuriya said today at the opening of the newly constructed media centre in parliament, aimed at facilitating parliament journalists.

The Speaker said the RTI, which was introduced in May 2015, had been very effective in minimising wastage and corruption in most government institutions at all levels.

“The RTI was proposed to be brought in 2003 but it was delayed due to political obstructions. If we had done it in 2003, we could have been the first in Asia to do so. But we only managed to do it in 2015, even after Afghanistan," he said.

Speaker Jayasuriya said he wanted to open the parliamentary business to people so that they were aware of laws such as acts and bills passed in parliament.

“The publicity given to laws enacted in parliament was not satisfactory. Now, there is people's interest in activities in parliament. We have opened the Committee on Public Enterprises (COPE) and Committee on Public Accounts to media,” he said.

The sophisticated media room which was constructed with aid from USAID was launched by Speaker Jayasuriya today. (Ajith Siriwardana)