The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Staff Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

ORGANISERS yesterday declared yesterday’s Freedom of Information demonstration an unprecedented success as representatives from civic groups across the country rallied in solidarity over the need for legislation that will give greater transparency to the government’s actions.

At Rawson Square yesterday, scores of representatives from supporting organisations, including the Chamber of Commerce, Trade Union Congress, and the Bahamas National Trust, held banners, chanted and petitioned for signatures to demand prioritisation of revised FOI legislation.

The group reportedly collected more than 150 signatures yesterday, including leaders from the Free National Movement and the Democratic National Alliance.

In a spin-off event, several protesters have committed to “occupy Rawson Square” for a 48-hour protest, set to end at 8am Friday. Seven people have been confirmed for the sit-in to demand transparency and accountability from the government, according to lead organiser Terneille Burrows of Bahamas Against Sexual Violence and Child Abuse.

Ms Burrows said the group was granted permits from the Royal Bahamas Police Force to stay the night; however, it was unclear whether or not there would be any restrictions on the camp site.

Representatives expected to spend the night are from Citizens for a Better Bahamas and the Committee to Preserve the Bahamas for Bahamians, who will stage their own demonstration on the site today.

Underscoring major endorsements from the corporate community yesterday, Save the Bays Education Director Joseph Darville said the organisation sold more than 900 event shirts, proceeds of which will go to fund the non-government organization.

Said Mr Darville: “I’m tremendously satisfied, I feel that we accomplished even beyond our deepest imagination in terms of the people who were here representing organisations which represent 30 to 35,000 people. We have accomplished what we came to accomplish, now the message has to get across to the prime minister and his ministers because they will watch, listen, and know that people actually are tired and fed up with the manipulation that happens in this country, the hiding of information which is significant in the functioning of a modern democracy.

“Fundamentally it is unbelievable that any government would have the audacity to keep certain information from the inhabitants of this country, we have taken the shackles off as slaves for about 175 years, we have been in so-called independence for 40 years,” he added. “But the Bahamian people are more psychologically enslaved than they have ever been because of fear and anxiety. The fear that the little that they have will be taken away from them – so we’re significantly happy that so many organizations have come out publicly to show their unequivocal support.”

Both Dr Hubert Minnis and Branville McCartney, leaders of the FNM and DNA respectively, underscored the critical need for effective legislation to support transparency and accountability in governance, and strengthen democracy – as they maintained their political party’s commitment to ensuring legislation is prioritised.

Former Tribune News Editor and Freedom of Information (FOI) advocate Paco Nunez said: “I think it’s a huge step, the fact that you can get two political parties in the same place, talking about the same thing – that is a question of transparency and accountability, something that in this culture of secrecy we don’t have any respect for traditionally – I think that’s huge. The fact that groups that are so diverse have come together on one issue, that is huge.”

Among the corporate sponsors that purchased shirts for employees include: Super Value, New Oriental Cleaners, and Custom Computers.

When asked whether or not recent controversy over development in Bimini provided a catalyst for mobilisation on the FOI issue, Mr Nunez said: “I think these things have a life of their own. You can’t really say, a lot of people are suffering for a lot of different reasons, a lot of people are worried for a lot of different reasons and our culture of official secrecy doesn’t help. It’s seen as a stumbling block to all sorts of people who are pushing for progress in different areas, they all feel that they can’t trust their government, they can’t know what’s going on with their own public finances – and that’s average people in difficult economic times. 

He said: “You want to know why you didn’t get a contract, and a minister’s cousin or campaign general did – Freedom of Information matters to you. If you want to get a taxi plate and you can’t get one because they’ve all been taken up, by who, well you can’t find out. Freedom of Information is for you. 

“If you struggle because you have children in a public school system that averages a D-minus and you’re worried about why we spend more than $200 million that could go to other social issues, services, job training, but it goes to Education and it disappears into a black hole meanwhile all the children are failing – if those are your children, Freedom of Information is for you,” he added, “almost without meaning to we’ve hit on this thing that is a catalyst for almost every activist group, every concerned entity in this country, including political parties and union supporters.”

Mr Nunez explained that controversy over Bimini development was a perfect example of how environmental issues can also be perceived as social justice issues.

He said: “If you live in a traditional community where people fish to feed their families or commercially to earn an income then the destruction of the marine environment matters to you, and why can’t you find out what’s happening to your marine environment that will change your life and the life of your community forever? Well you can’t because there is no Freedom of Information that’s how it started – for some of these groups not all of them – but they realised that what’s actually happening is not that unregulated development is destroying the environment, not just that, but it’s also destroying traditionally self-sufficient communities.”

Dianne Phillips, public relations consultant, added: “The underlying need of Freedom of Information spans across all causes and events, from healthcare, to education, to taxi licenses, to applications at Crown Lands, to citizenship requests, why is it that the public has no right to know the public’s business?”

Other supporting organizations include Bahamas Against Crime, Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation, Bahamas National Citizens Coalition, Bahamas Humane Society, reEarth, Bahamas Against Sexual Violence and Child Abuse, and the International Press Institute, headquartered in Vienna.