The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Deputy Chief Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

EDUCATION Minister Jerome Fitzgerald yesterday tabled the long-awaited Freedom of Information Bill after numerous delays and just five months ahead of the next election as he expressed “disappointment” in the lack of public involvement in drafting this legislation.

Mr Fitzgerald deemed the tabling of the bill “historic” while pointing to the nearly three-year-long process it took to bring it to the House of Assembly. However, this is not the first time such legislation was brought to Parliament. The previous Ingraham administration passed a Freedom of Information Act shortly before the 2012 general election, however there was no date for enactment.

When the Christie administration assumed office, officials said the legislation needed to be overhauled.

The bill will grant the public the right of access to records held by public authorities, subject to exemptions, which balance to the right of access against the non-disclosure of government or commercial

information where non disclosure is in the public interest. It aims to create transparency and accountability at the government level.

He did not say when debate is expected to begin on the legislation.

“Mr Speaker, I must express my disappointment and the disappointment of the committee with the lack of public involvement,” the minister said. “Mr Speaker, one would have thought that given the importance of this bill and the noise that we continue to hear in the market regarding the Freedom of Information Bill that these meetings would have been oversubscribed and we would have had far more persons attending town hall meetings or even sending in recommendations and comments.

“Sadly, that was not the case. Scores of Bahamians may have missed an opportunity to be actively involved in the framing of this bill that will undoubtedly be of historic proportion.

“Mr Speaker notwithstanding the low engagement of the public there were substantial recommendations and all of those recommendations were considered.”

The bill does not apply to the judicial functions of a court or the holder of judicial office, the Royal Bahamas Police Force or Defence Force, the Department of Customs and Immigration or the Financial Intelligence Unit relating to their strategies or operational intelligence gathering activities.

It also makes provisions for a person who wishes to obtain information to make an application to the public authority that holds the record. This authority is required to respond to an application no later than 30 days after the date of receipt of the application.

Documents that if made public would result in the destruction, damage or interference with the conservation of historical, archaeological or anthropological resources or any species of plant or animal life that is endangered or threatened are also exempt among other categories of records.

Last year, the government released a revamped draft version of the legislation.

Mr Fitzgerald has previously said the implementation of the FOIA will cost about $2m.