Civil society advocates are critical for ensuring public accountability

Apr 17, 2022 News

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– as calls increase for use of Access to Information Act

By Zena Henry

Kaieteur News – The advice of experts and studies encourages the involvement of civil society is not only the management of the oil and gas sector, but the overall development of the country.
As such local stakeholders are continuing the call for a better information sharing relationship with government as part of its (government) role in promoting transparency and public accountability.

But when leaders refuse to cooperate by not getting the necessary groups involved, that is when public interest advocates become even more relevant, according to attorney-at-law and chartered accountant, Christopher Ram. Ram is among several professionals who have been urging the government to release information pertaining to projects and huge financial contracts.
In fact, Ram is adamant that much more attention needs to be paid to the Access to Information Act. This, he said, would allow for demands to be made of government. “But unfortunately, we don’t have a cadre of public interest lawyers,” he pointed out. Ram noted that the situation is a serious one, “and I say that as a member of the legal profession…If we want to promote and develop our country and develop social enhancement here, we need to have information equal to that which the government has.”
Opposition Leader, Aubrey Norton is also pushing for the access to information. He told the newspaper that the opposition is ready to use all means available to access information which he said is being kept secret by the government. Norton recently took up his seat in parliament and on the same day, a vote was taken to change the quorum for parliament’s Public Accounts Committee which deals with overseeing government expenditure.
In an exclusive interview with this publication, Norton explained that the opposition is very concerned about the limited information that is being provided to the public regarding the spending of funds in developmental ventures.

Responding to public concerns over the inaccessibility of project documents, Norton said citizens should not be surprised by the government’s posture. “The PPP when they were in government up to 2015, have never put in the public domain one contract.”
Norton said too that citizens seem to have forgotten that oil and gas contracts only appeared in the public when the APNU+AFC Coalition got into government, “so, people should have expected that they (PPP/C government) would have behaved in this way.”
“I have long argued that the PPP has no interest in democracy. They are a party fixed on domination and control. They have the false perception that withholding information will permit them to dominate and control.”
The PNC/R leader said that government’s posture mirrors that of dictatorial and authoritarian regimes. “So, from the very onset the regime is not one that is interested in democracy. The whole question of providing information is part of a democratic process and the PPP is not committed to democracy.”
Norton said that, “The reality is that they (government) want to keep all the information to themselves, 1) to facilitate their corruption, and 2) to ensure that what they do, the things aren’t challenged.” Norton insisted that his party will have to use everything at its disposal to expose what is happening. He said that citizens cannot depend on the PPP/C government to act correctly, so the opposition is mobilising the society by educating citizens on the difficulties being faced, before seeking their assistance in holding the administration accountable.
Many civil society organisations, professionals and ordinary citizens have called out government for deliberately trying to hide information. Some members of the government have dismissed the calls by the groups and have even questioned their authenticity. Additionally, government representatives have used the argument that project documents are too sensitive and valuable to be made available to the public.
Another argument forwarded by the administration is that Guyana lacks the capabilities to address the matters contained in the documents that they are asking for.
However, Article 38 of Guyana’s 2011 Access to Information Act says that in relation to exempt documents the Commissioner of Information shall give access to an exempt document where there is reasonable evidence that significant (a) abuse of authority or neglect in the performance of official duty; (b) injustice to a person; (c) danger to the health or safety of a person or of the public; or (d) unauthorised use of public funds.

 

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