Some people believe it is often necessary even desirable for political leaders to withhold information from the public Others believe that the public has a right to be fully informed

The political leaders form an important part of the society. They are the ones who lead the society and set an example for the rest to follow. When politicians hold discussions, the information must be announced to the public. Most of the information that is discussed must not be kept secret. Instead, they must be allowed to be judged by the conscience of the people. Only then, could we arrive at a proper decision regarding the effectiveness of the information. In few cases, the information can be kept secret. But, in most of the cases, the information ought to be announced to the public.

First of all, keeping the information transparent, keeps the politicians away from indulging in malpractices like corruption. When the information is kept among the politicians, they get a lot of freedom. This freedom directs the politicians to indulge in lots of unwanted activities and leads them in the wrong part. Consequently, they tend to evil practices like indulging in corruption, cheating people, looting the public money - taxes collected from people etc... For instance, India is the trying example for rampant corruption prevalent in this country, solely due to withholding of lots of information from the public and keeping most of the discussions private. Ultimately, people tend to know very little about the government proceedings - this in turn leads to undesirable consequences.

Secondly, the leaders are elected by the people and hence their ultimate responsibility is to serve the requirements of the people. If the information is withheld from the public, then the leaders may not know whether the measures that they implement are in accordance with the requirements of the people. When the requirements mismatch, then the measures executed, however excellent, will not serve advantageous to the society. Therefore, to understand the needs of the people, political leaders must divulge the information to the public and get their opinions on the topic.

Moreover, there can be multiple opinions on the same topic; they can come from people from different walks of life. For instance, there can arise a case when a government plans to implement national curriculum. In this case, the government cannot take decision on its own; it must consider the suggestions of people ranging from those involved in administrative positions of each state to the common teachers in the elementary schools. Only then, can we arrive at a proper conclusion on whether to implement the national curriculum. Because, every issue has both pros and cons, unless they are put into discussion, hardly will a consensus be arrived. Additionally, the leaders' view cannot be always righteous, because humans are always prone to err. Leaders confront a problem from their point of view. When the same problem is discussed among people, many will voice out their own opinions and each of them will have their own worthy points to be considered. Therefore, to get an information concerning a problem to be regarded from a multitude of points of view, leaders should not keep the information among themselves.

Some may argue that certain kinds of information needs to be kept secret. Obviously, there exists few cases,where in divulging the information to the public can be disastrous. For instance, if the leaders plan to catch hold of a criminal in a particular area, then they must not make known their plans to the public. Taking the case of Osama bin Laden - who was the most wanted terrorist; the American government was able to get him caught red-handed, only because of their strategic plans not known to the public. Also, certain information regarding the treasuries of a government and plans of the leaders to attack other countries must not be made known to the public. But these cases are very few and in most of the cases, the leaders are obliged to make known their plans to the public.

Thus, the political leaders must not withhold the information from the public because of reasons like: preventing practices like corruption, getting multiple opinions on a particular topic, responsiblity of the leaders to serve the public. However, ther exist insignifcant cases, where in the leaders must keep the information to themselves. On the whole, letting the information known to the public will create mutual understanding between the leaders and the people and will lead them in the path of success.