President Bharrat Jagdeo of Antigua is promising action on a freedom of information bill, but observers are very skeptical.
The president recently indicated he would bring up both a FOI bill and a broadcast bill in October when the National Assembly resumes.
But in a statement, the opposition party People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR), said, “We will wait, not with baited breath,” according to a report in the Antigua Observer. The PNCR said that while there is a FOI bill before the assembly, it was not tabled by the government, but rather the minority Alliance for Change (AFC) party.
The PNRC, according to the Antigua Observer, also said while the bill has the full support of opposition legislators it “is yet to have even its First Reading, because of clear indications that the Government will use its majority in the National Assembly to defeat the Bill or else to so emasculate it that what is passed will bear no resemblance to the original Bill.”
The leader of the Alliance for Change, Raphael Trotman, also was doubtful about action, according to a report in the Kaieteur News.
Filed under: What's New