We should take our cues from countries that have little corruption, and well functioning democracies - openness, transparency and accountability are good virtues, but they come into being through solid, practical systems. 

Let's take Sweden for example. Here, as in Sweden, there is a freedom of information act. Here if you request a document under the FOIA you will spend many weeks waiting for it, unless it's appealed, in which case it could take months and a not insignificant amount of money spent on lawyers to fight the appeal.
In Sweden, you walk into the local office of the department that issued the document and they have to - by law - produce it in less than an hour. Failure to do so leads to the automatic firing of the head of department (who suddenly has a LOT of incentive to ensure every branch office is up to scratch !)

That's how you do it - by making laws that not only establishes rights, but sets expectations on them - and punishments for leaders who fail to meet them.