Assessing The Transparency Of Key Government Departments 

Advocata’s Transparency Dashboard assesses the level of transparency practiced by selected government departments. The top 20 government departments with the highest budgetary allocations as of 2024 were selected for this process. These departments were scored based on (a) their compliance with auditing standards, (b) their compliance with the Right to Information Act and (c) the ease of accessing information related to the department. The purpose of the transparency dashboard is to track these particular government departments’ degree of (fiscal) transparency. An overall composite score was calculated to assess their degree of (fiscal) transparency based on their performance in the above 3 indicators. 

Sri Lanka Army, Department of Posts and the Department of Railways tied for the highest score at 83.315%. These departments adhered to reporting and auditing standards and had easy access to information.  

The department of civil security and National Planning scored the lowest at 45.825% followed by the Samurdhi and Agrarian development departments which tied at 49.985%. These departments demonstrated poor information accessibility and failed to respond to RTIs (Right to Information) requests in a timely manner. 

A majority of the departments were marginally successful and scored between 50% and 75%. Many departments fared poorly on the right to information indicators as they did not have updated details about the RTI officer or they did not respond within the timeframe specified. Another weakness that is observed in many of the departments was the lack of sufficient details on their websites. However, a majority of departments demonstrated strong compliance with reporting standards and scored well in that area.

Interpretation of scores:

Government transparency is vital to mitigate corruption and mismanagement. Government transparency means that reliable, relevant, and timely information about the activities of the government is available to the public, enabling it to defend itself from the abuse of power¹. In the age of the Internet and e-governance, transparency is also computer-intermediated. Therefore, this assessment  focuses on the online availability of information as the existence of actual transparency. 

A government department in Sri Lanka is an administrative unit of the central government, operating directly under a Cabinet ministry. Government departments are responsible for implementing government policies, delivering public services, and performing statutory or executive functions. The greater the budgetary allocation, the stronger the need for transparency enabling citizens to monitor spending decisions and prevent mismanagement and corruption.