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President sets new deadline for FOI, Broadcast legislation

Dec 30, 2009 News

President Bharrat Jagdeo has yet again set a new deadline for some ‘priority’ legislation namely the Freedom of Information, Broadcast, and the amendments to the New Building Society Act.
Asked recently at a press briefing about the status of the Bills, Jagdeo said that they will reach the House early next year. The people responsible for drafting of the legislation had a heavy load this year.
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is nearing completion at the Cabinet level and should be in parliament shortly.
Cabinet Secretary, Dr Roger Luncheon, recently said that the Bill will allow reporters and others to request almost any information from Government. It is in the last stages of the Cabinet level where Members of Parliament have to consider the draft copies before it is labeled, he added.
The Broadcast Bill has not reached this stage yet, Dr Luncheon said.
For some time now, there has been a clamour to get both Bills passed.
Government says the passage of the Broadcast Legislation will allow it to better consider applications for radio licences.
With regards to the FOIA, proponents have been arguing that the Bill is essential for preserving and maintaining transparency in Guyana.
On August 28, last, President Bharrat Jagdeo, whilst urging businessmen to invest more in Guyana, promised that by next year there will be Broadcast Legislation and as such the government monopoly on radio will be broken and private individuals will be allowed to access radio licences.
As it relates to the granting of licences for additional television stations, the President told the gathering at the recent Private Sector Commission dinner, that Guyana already has in excess of 20 television stations and that he did not want a replete of squatting on the airwaves.
Alliance for Change Chairman, Khemraj Ramjattan, had dismissed that notion by the President as mischievous since “he has gotten wind of the AFC’s intention to present its Draft to the National Assembly in October.”
Ramjattan also recalled that the President had lied to the nation already as it relates to the Freedom of Information Legislation.
On October 1, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, Dr Roger Luncheon, during a weekly post Cabinet press briefing, said that the Broadcast legislation was among the priority Bills to be tabled in Parliament upon its resumption from recess. According to Dr Luncheon, the Bills identified were significant pieces of the legislation but at the time could not vouch for their origin adding that he was certain they will be tabled and gazetted.
He was responding to a question about whether the Bills were those of previous drafts pointing out that when they become gazetted one would be able to discern whether they are akin to any previous drafts.

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