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FOI Legislation… PM fails to honour agreement to Parliament

Feb 08, 2011 News

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds has failed to maintain a declaration to the Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran as well as to Opposition Leader, Robert Corbin, and Leader of the Alliance For Change, Raphael Trotman, when he announced a new deadline for the Government Access to Information Bill.
Hinds, by way of letter in November last had informed them that “in keeping with the recent pronouncements by Head of State Bharrat Jagdeo, he was informing the House that the government intends to bring the Access to Information Bill in January.”
January has ended and we are now more than one week into February and there has still not been any indication from any Government official as to the reason that yet another deadline has had to pass or what is the new deadline for the tabling of the Bill.
Trotman at the time had told this newspaper that he felt it was a victory, given that the government was forced to make a pronouncement on the issue. He did point out that there have been several deadlines issued before, all of which the government failed to honour.
Just prior to Sam Hinds’s letter Trotman had written to the Speaker of the National Assembly asking that the Bill in his name be placed on the order paper for debate before the end of this month.
Subsequent to that announcement a government source had stated that Trotman’s Bill was very weak and a cut and paste job.
Trotman responded by pointing out that the Bill he had tabled was reviewed by a reputable Commonwealth body which had even had an input in the Bill.
Several Government officials, including President Jagdeo, had said that the Bill would be tabled in the House by August before the Parliamentary recess but this did not happen.
The Bill is yet to be placed before the National Assembly.
Contacted recently as it relates to the fact that the Bill is yet to become a reality, People’s Progressive Party General Secretary Donald Ramotar said that it is not because of any lack of political will. He said that all stakeholders agree that the legislation is important and necessary, but he stressed that the delay was as a result of the limited capacity as it relates to drafting.
Ramotar stated that it is not just the Freedom of Information Bill that is being affected, but several other Bills are being drafted.
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. President Bharrat Jagdeo, during the Summit of Americas in Trinidad and Tobago in April 2009, had announced that within three months the government would table Freedom of Information Legislation.
To date the Government is yet to produce a draft for consultation.

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