A small victory- a large opening

Oct 02, 2026 Editorial, News

(Kaieteur News) – The 2011 Access to Information Act of Guyana can now bear some fruit. Information sought is released to those petitioning. It has been 14 years, long and frustrating years, with access to information, as allowed by law, routinely denied. Now, a small victory comes in a court ruling. It is a big opening, with so much of what democracy flourishes on, access to information, being almost within the grasp.

What will the aftermath of this court ruling of Justice Nicole Pierre be like? More dodging and resisting could still follow. We at this paper would hope not. For then what standing the court, what is the law, when neither has any weight, nothing such as compelling power? We still struggle over what it is that the PPPC Government has to hide. When transparency is claimed, then information is the education that follows as to how true that claim is. Access to it, and that information being made available, within the provisions of the law, and the procedures derived from it.

This small victory in court can be tracked to the consistent efforts of one civil society activist, Chris Ram, chartered accountant and attorney-at-law. Like almost all others in Guyana that practice either of those professions, he could have spent his time more rewardingly, earning huge sums of money. His efforts (and a small band of others) have paid off with a reward that is likely bigger than any number of millions he could have made practising his skills. The best way that his work can be recognised is by taking advantage of the court ruling. What is now in the environment is bigger than Ram and the commissioner, it is forging ahead in the little openings, so that there is some degree of democracy in Guyana, one that is of a better quality. Information on how the government, its institutions, and its officers work will give the media much to work with, while citizens get to see how well, or poorly, they and their interests are represented.

Whover had tried to use the law before and filed a request for information from the Access to Information Office but got stonewalled, they should follow-up on their earlier request. They could consider reviving their request with a polite reminder letter, and all of the prior supporting documents attached. Or, if they have the patience and still have the interest, they should file a new request for information from scratch. One of the objectives would be to test the reaction to the court ruling. Another should be to test respect for the law, and to determine if the charade, the resistance, continues unabated, but in some different form.

Civil society activists have had longstanding concerns about the environment and about developments related to oil, gold, and other forms of mining. Others, including Ram himself, were and are keenly interested in obtaining documents from the Information Office pertaining to the 2016 Production Sharing Agreement between ExxonMobil and Guyana, and the study that was done on that agreement. Entities within the media sphere should not leave the pursuit of information to a few civil society activists, but manifest their own interest by filling valid requests for information from the Access to Information Office to see what they get.

It is to this country’s loss that a law was passed more than 14 years ago, and it was given short thrift, is as if meaningless. It also reveals much about how a government can talk briskly about the law and its operations and applications. Yet that same government could be such a block that stands against citizens getting some benefits out of it. Government makes itself look shabby, when it conducts itself like this. The Access to Information Office slides into that most deplorable of states: a caricature of a public authority. When the most that petitioners for information got in the past was nothing but the negligible, when they incurred palpable derision for their efforts, this is how the law was mocked and made into a plaything of the idle. The court ruling is a small victory that creates a large opening. Citizens from all walks should walk through it and test it.

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access to information act, Editorial, information, PPPC Government

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