Fiji’s Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says an access information decree will be issued in a few months, according to report by Shanal Sivan for FBC News.
Sayed-Khaiyum noted a provision for freedom of information under the 1997 constitution.
“He says they are currently compiling some important documents and decrees, before the elections, after which they will complete the FOI decree,” according to the report.
He was quoted as saying: “SVT, Labour or SDL, actually had the political will to implement that, nobody had made a law, we are doing it, and it should in place in the next couple of months or so, so obviously regulatory agencies or ministries that have a high people impact or contact, would be the first once to be considered for FOI.”
Discussing the potential decree, he stated:
For example you may have put in an application to the clerk over the counter, and the clerk they may assess it, and then pass that on to somebody else, and all the file notes and the actual decision making. Under the Freedom of Information Decree, you can have all the access to that information, and all those documents that led to the decision being made in the final instance. So under the FOI you’ll have right to do that.
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