The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

Tribune Staff Reporter

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

THE government hopes to have the Freedom of Information Act, which was passed in Parliament under the previous administration, in force “as soon as possible”.

The hold up – according to Director of Legal Affairs, Deborah Fraser – is that the Act is currently under review by the Law Reform and Revision department.

“As you recall, the legislation would have been passed or implemented by the previous administration and opportunity now must be given to the present administration to have a look at that legislation and to ensure that everything is in place in order to bring it into force,” Mrs Fraser said.

Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson added that the Act would be enforced “as soon as possible.” She explained the government doesn’t want to have a situation where “we actually brought something into force where it can’t work.”

She said: “There has to be a mechanism by which you understand, as the media, when you want to make an application to get something and anybody is holding it up, you want to have some redress if you don’t get it. So we need to make sure that everything is put in place and the process is fully understood – and that’s what’s happening.”

Last August, Prime Minister Perry Christie promised that the Act would be enforced and an Information Commission would be set up within this current term of office, though he did not specify when the Act would be enforced.

The Act was first introduced in Parliament in October 2011 and a revised version was passed in the Senate in February 2012.