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Freedom of Information Legislation due for debate

Oct 19, 2010 News

The National Assembly, having emerged out of its statutory recess, will this Thursday have its second sitting but there is no mention of the long awaited Freedom of Information Legislation.
On the agenda for this next sitting are the Judicial Review Bill, the Alternative Dispute Bill and the Contempt of Court Bill.
When asked for a response recently on the issue, Chief Whip of the People’s National Congress Reform, Lance Carberry, said that he was not surprised that the document was not available.
He said that he would not be waiting with bated breath to see if the Bill will be tabled shortly.
With Government failing to keep many deadlines, it set itself for the enactment of long overdue Broadcast and Freedom of Information Legislation, President Bharrat Jagdeo committed to yet another timeline in August this year.
“As soon as Parliament comes out of recess, the Freedom of Information Act and Broadcast Legislation will be passed,” Jagdeo had told reporters at the Guyana International Convention Centre where he had scheduled a meeting with cable operators.
This is two months beyond the August deadline Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Charles Ramson, committed to in April.
The Prime Minister’s Office was tasked with spearheading the crafting of Broadcast Legislation, while the Office of the President was dealing with the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, Ramson had said. President Jagdeo holds the portfolio of Minister of Information.
The Broadcasting Bill is seen as key to the issuance of additional TV and radio licences, and breaking the monopoly on radio.
The government owns and controls the country’s lone radio station, National Communications Network, under whose operation the government-run TV station falls. With many complaining of difficulties to access information about government contracts and other similar matters, the FOI is a crucial bill that is expected to make it illegal to withhold information.
Last December, Chief Justice (ag) Ian Chang, in a High Court ruling, ordered that the National Frequency Management Unit (NFMU) speedily grant broadcast licences to those who want to broadcast in Linden and in Region Ten.
Lindeners, Norman Chapman and Mortimer Yearwood, had taken the government to court to be issued with television licences.
Chang ruled that the rights of citizens under Article 146 of the Constitution cannot be abridged based on an agreement made between President Bharrat Jagdeo and Opposition Leader Robert Corbin.
In 2003, the two, by means of a signed communiqué, had agreed that no new licences would be granted until broadcast legislation has been enacted.
The process should have taken a year.
Chapman and Yearwood had moved to the High Court, prior to the 2006 General Elections, claiming that their fundamental rights were being breached by their not being able to have radio or TV broadcasts other than from state-owned radio and television.

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