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No access to information until after elections – Jagdeo
Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo
Kaieteur News – Following six months of protest for greater access to public information and the refusal of the Commissioner of Information, Charles Ramson Snr. to respond to requests from civil society and members of the media, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo said on Thursday that there will be some improvement in this area if his party is reelected to government after the upcoming September 1, General and Regional Elections.
Kaieteur News pointed out to the Vice president at his weekly press conference on Thursday that he had said when questioned before President Irfaan Ali will have to examine the matter but to date, no action has been taken. Jagdeo responded, “Clearly in our manifesto, you are going to see something about that too, we have made it clear that more information has to be publicly available.”
He then went on to state that his government has already been moving in this direction by publishing information from the oil and gas sector. “We have done so in the oil and gas sector by publishing all of the agreements signed. All of the environmental permits. We are publishing now the production schedules/ production and other metrics regularly”, he claimed.
Commissioner of Information, Charles Ramson Snr. SC
He added too that his government has also published large-scale contracts for mining and the forestry sector. “We are now online with all of the contracts that were issued above fifteen million by NPTAB (National Tender and Administration Board)” he continued before adding that more needs to be done when it comes to the Commissioner of Information.
“We clearly have to provide through that office we have to strengthen the law and provide more information I can say that now”, Jagdeo said.
Kaieteur News pointed out too that the Ramson’s reluctance to do his job has raised concerns that he might be squatting in the office. Responding to this the Vice President said, “As I said before the President will examine this but the job based on that commitment we made, the job does not belong to an individual so we will have to examine that.”
Led by Attorney-at-law and chartered accountant, Christopher Ram, Guyanese, civil society and even journalists have been protesting against the reluctance of Ramson Snr. to release key information on several matters, including documents that can provide some clarity to the signing of the lopsided 2016 oil deal with ExxonMobil Guyana for the lucrative Stabroek oil block. At a recent protest, Ram had noted the information is not critical for transparency only but could help shape polices for Guyana that can benefit the citizens. The protesters had started their demonstration outside of Ramson’s office but later moved to the Office of President. The protestors argued that the president has the power to not only release the information they are seeking but also take action against Ramson since he is collecting a salary for doing nothing. To date, the government is yet to release the information or take any action.
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