The government of the Bahamas on May 19 proposed freedom of information legislation (text).
Minister of Education Jerome Fitzgerald, the minister responsible for the legislation, was quoted as saying that the draft bill would dramatically improve upon the act that the former Ingraham Administration passed shortly before the May 2012 general election, that was never made official law.
The government announced that there will be a series of public meetings to get input, but no dates have been announced.
Initial reaction was favorable, but indicated that improvements are needed.
Vanessa Haley-Benjamin, the Chief Executive Officer of the environmental movement Save The Bays, called it “a step in the right direction,” but urged attention to public input, appointment of an independent commissioner and passage of a bill that contains “more teeth than loopholes.”
Benjamin said: “Freedom of information is urgently needed. As it stands now, developments are being approved with virtually no input from residents even when those developments are going to directly affect them. That should never be the case. And we need to know before the first shovel turns the first soil how proposed projects are going to impact the environment.”
“If freedom of information becomes part of our culture, it will mean an end to closed door deals and the only time information is withheld will be when it could be a breach of national security. We hope that is the case and they are not just playing with emotions with the introduction of this act that we have been awaiting since the former government introduced but never passed it,” said Benjamin.
The Bahamas Press Club said:
On the face of it the new draft bill will seem to deepen the democracy in affording the people to freely access information from various government agencies. On the backside, however, it will appear that so much information will be exempt and not available for the public, the status quo will remain and freedom of information for the Bahamian people will still not exist.
We are hopeful that the appointment of an Information Commissioner with the attendant resources to make the position effective, minus the usual political baggage will be the order of the day.
The Press Club is also delighted to see the unlimited power of the minister corrected as that single provision made a mockery of the entire process.
While the Bill will need strengthening in other areas, we look forward to the promised public town meetings and the full participation of the public, who have been calling for a Freedom of Information Act.
Filed under: What's New