The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Senior Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

THE Ministry of Finance, the Department of Public Procurement, Bahamas Power and Light and the Ministry of Works are among the ten government institutions that will be initially involved in the launch of the Freedom of Information system.

Deputy Information Commissioner Shane Miller said the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Environment, the Bahamas Investment Authority, the Treasury Department, the Ministry of Public Service and the Department of Immigration will also be involved in the pilot programme.

His comment came during a webinar yesterday hosted by the Organisation for Responsible Governance.

 “We were very cognizant of some of the key areas of government that the public would probably want to have information from right off the top,” Mr Miller said. “So, we were selective in these ten agencies. This is a phased approach. This is the first ten. There are approximately 20 or so ministries and each of those ministries have various agencies under them but these are the first ten that’s chosen as pilot agencies that will run this programme.”

 Mr Miller and Information Commissioner Keith Thompson could not say when the pilot programme will officially launch and when people can begin requesting information from the agencies, saying a lot of groundwork is still required.

 “A lot of reform (is) needed,” Mr Miller said, describing government institutions as still largely paper-based. He said the department has started an assessment process “to figure out where agencies are with their records management,” something that will be key to making sure the Freedom of Information Act is properly implemented.

 Commissioner Thompson said one manager will be attached to each of the ten agencies and all ten managers will be trained by two local experts who have already been selected.

 “In order to get access, many things have to be put in place,” he said. “One of the things is there has to be technology. Technology has to be in place for the public to make the request for the different information that they may wish to request.

 “The plan for the additional (agencies) being on board... is a bit difficult to peg at this time. It’s because we’re gonna have to put in place the technology... at every ministry or agency that the public will be needing to use to make the request. That we are still working on and that has to be seated whether it’s a system that we can buy, or whether it’s one that we have to build, we are at that stage where we are in discussions on that.”