The opportunity or right to get, see and use information, and to gain knowledge about information collected, maintained and disseminated by the government. Freedom of information and public access to information is a democratic right, usually codified in laws, stating that government information should be available to the public, and that any exceptions should be limited and specific. The public has the right to know in order to increase government accountability, and to reduce confidentiality and secrecy, which breeds corruption.

All this aid in assessing how well the government is doing and areas that need to improve upon. Thus the government is made accountable to the people which places constraints on the behaviour of politicians and public officials by state institutions, organisations and constituencies having the power to apply sanctions.

Accountability has three basic components: transparency, answerability and controllability. Accountability is the responsibility of a public institution, official or politician to carry out a given mandate and to justify his decisions and actions according to applicable rules and regulations. Democratic accountability is the idea that people entrusted with political power owns accountability to 'the people'; both directly through elections and indirectly through delegated authority to institutional checks and controls.

ACDI-CIDA
Asian development Bank
World Bank
World Bank
Transparency International
Boston University
Transparency International
Crime and Misconduct Commission
United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime
Transparency International