The public has a right to know what is taking place

Nov 17, 2018 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The sittings of the National Assembly are public. They are streamed live, there is provision for members of the public to attending sittings, and the media is allowed to report on deliberations in the House.
Should the sittings be made private? Most persons would say no. They would argue that the House discusses public matters which should not be secretive. Making the sittings of the House public is in the interest of public transparency.
The same can be said of the statutory meetings of the municipalities. They are open to the public and to the media. Residents of towns can therefore observe the decision-making processes of the municipalities.
Court trials, except where held in camera, are also open to the public. Persons are free to attend and listen to the trials of those charged with criminal offences. Civil trials are also usually held in public.
What all three of these examples – the National Assembly, the municipality and the courts – illustrate is that the affairs of the people are best conducted in public. It adds to transparency and accountability if the public are witnesses to the decisions which are made in their name, and for their benefit.
What therefore can be wrong with opening the meetings of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to the public? Why should the public not be entitled to listen in to the discussions which are taking place within the Commission and which concern the public’s right to elect their representatives at the general, regional and local government levels?
The meetings of the GECOM should not be cloistered. GECOM is responsible for voter registration, maintenance of the voters’ list, and the administration of all national, regional and local government elections. These functions do not require secrecy; they are not matters of national security. The public has an interest in these matters, since elections are the means by which the people express their will. As such, meetings of the Guyana Elections Commission should be open to the public.
There are concerns within the Guyana Elections Commission. The Commissioners nominated by the Opposition are concerned about the manner in which decisions are made within the Guyana Elections Commission, and at least one of them has taken to provide an account, via letter to the media, as to the meetings of the Commission.
Another member of the Commission has deemed this practice as unethical because, among other things, names are being mentioned and this can place those persons in harm’s way.
The question to be asked is what can be wrong with the public learning about the deliberations of the Commission. The excuse about placing persons in harm’s way is a red herring. The affairs of GECOM are of public interest. The public has a right to know what is taking place. There is no plausible reason why the statutory meetings of GECOM should not be open to the public in the same way as hearing of Commissions of Inquiry, sittings of the National Assembly, the courts and the town councils.
GECOM, as one Commissioner pointed out, is not a secretive society. In fact, given its important function, it should try to build public confidence in its work, by being more transparent and open. Reporting on meetings of the Commission can help to restore confidence in its work. What is there to fear by making public what takes place at GECOM meetings?
Instead of squabbling about whether it is unethical for the public to be informed about discussions within the Commission, the meetings should be open for the press and public to attend. This would allow for the public to judge who is being unethical, mischievous and devious. And who has something to hide.

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