Freedom of Information law in January

- PM gives to commitment to Nat’l Assembly

Prime Minister Samuel Hinds in a letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly and copied to Opposition Leader, Robert Corbin, and Leader of the Alliance For Change, Raphael Trotman, announced that a new deadline for the Government Access to Information Bill has been set.
According to Hinds, 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.
Trotman told this newspaper that he felt it was a victory, given that the government has now been 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.
Trotman said that he is going to engage the government to see how sincere they are with the new deadline.
Only recently 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 a number of other Bills that 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 last year April, had announced that within three months the government would table Freedom of Information Legislation.

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