A freedom of information act for the Bahamas won’t be ready before spring of 2016, Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald said recently, disappointing FOI supporters.
The was termed a “damn shame” by Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) Chairman Robert Myers, saying he was “very disappointed,” according to one news article.
Fitzgerald said the government is still deciding whether it should make the “over 100” amendments needed to augment the present Act or “scrap it” and start it from scratch, according to a news report. He said the decision will be made this month by an interagency committee.
A representative of Save the Bays, Fred Smith, said the delay is “simply unacceptable.” Smith said. “Five years after the election promise and on the eve of the new election is far too long for the public to wait for transparency and accountability in government.”
“In the absence of freedom of information, The Bahamas has been run like a petty dictatorship by successive governments, which have treated our land, our patrimony, our Family Islands as if it was their own to sell to whom they wish and for whatever price they wish – usually next to nothing; prime ministers (as Ministers of Finance) who treat our treasury as if it is their own personal piggybank that can be used to fund whatever shortsighted projects they please,” according to Save the Bays, a leading campaigner for the FOI law.
In June, Fitzgerald had raised expectations, saying a FOI bill was being prepared. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.)
Filed under: What's New