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RUSAL/employees imbroglio further illustrates need for FOI- AFC

Dec 06, 2009 News

By Gary Eleazar

The current imbroglio that surrounds the bauxite industry, namely between RUSAL and its employees, further illustrates the need for Freedom of Information legislation in Guyana.
This is according to Leader of the Alliance For Change Raphael Trotman who recently supported his party’s Chief Executive Officer Peter Ramsaroop who said that they could not say whether RUSAL had breached any of the stipulations embedded in the contract with the Government of Guyana such as capital investments.
Ramsaroop said that it is customary when there are negotiations for foreign direct investments that clauses such as capital investments by a stipulated time as well as staffing proportions are included, but at present it is unclear what the agreements are with RUSAL.
This lack of information, according to Trotman, could have easily been rectified with the access to information legislation.
Prior to the November resumption of the sitting of the National Assembly, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon had hinted that FOI legislation was among the priority Bills for the House, but several sittings later the promised legislation is yet to surface in the face of another imminent recess of the House.
Luncheon in early November, had said that the FOI Act, which effectively will allow reporters and others to request almost any information from Government, is in the last stages of the Cabinet level, where members have to consider the draft copies.
The announcement on FOI came after missing one deadline and President Bharrat Jagdeo announcing October as a new one.
The President, while at the Summit of Americas in Trinidad and Tobago in April, had made the announcement that Guyana will soon have FOI.
AFC Leader Raphael Trotman had tabled and later suspended similar legislation, given that he had wanted the full support of the House before proceeding.
Trotman is on record, however, as saying that he was heartened to hear that such legislation would be imminent.
According to Trotman, the Bill that was tabled by him was not a piece that he “just imagined” pointing to the fact that it was based on a model that is in force in Trinidad and Tobago.
He added that the Bill has been thoroughly addressed by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.
According to Trotman, one would have considered that in an effort to save time, the government would have at least worked with the one that was tabled, questioning whether they found the Bill in his name, “totally unacceptable.”
“We are already drafting it (FOI)…It is something in my manifesto…we have already gone beyond many countries in terms of changes to the constitutional system,” Jagdeo told media operatives in Trinidad.
Trotman had recently told this newspaper that he was disappointed that the Government did not see it fit to support the Freedom of Information legislation in 2008 but was, nevertheless, optimistic for 2009.
He had noted that his disappointment was further fuelled by the fact that the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association had held a workshop for Parliamentarians and media operatives, where Freedom of Information (FOI) was extensively discussed.
He conceded that legislation such as the FOI will take time, but pointed out that there was a resounding call by Guyanese, who were now beginning to understand the importance of such a piece of legislation, as well as the calls from the international organisations.
Trotman emphasised that Freedom of Information is important for good governance and transparency.
The essence of the Freedom of Information Act, according to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), is the empowerment of the populace to request any piece of information (with few exceptions, such as medical records) held by a public authority.

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