The Tribune

LEADING authorities on Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation were guests on radio talk show ‘Voice of the Bays’ last week to stress the role the law plays in the democratic process as the clock winds down to the July 15 deadline for public consultation.

As one of the main tenets in its platform, Save the Bays has pushed for Freedom of Information legislation since its inception, organising the very first FOI Act rally in Rawson Square in downtown Nassau in June, 2014. Since then, the environmental advocacy group has worked tirelessly to make sure the issue remains on the public’s radar, most notably gathering more than 7,000 signatures on a petition calling for the government to pass an FOI bill.

“The people must have a voice to speak, they must have an avenue through which to be heard and they must be honoured with respect to their opinion,” said Mr Darville on Thursday as he opened ‘Voice of the Bays: The Environment Speaks,’ a weekly radio show that airs in Freeport and Nassau on Love 97.5 FM.

Talk show guest Lisa Benjamin, an associate law professor at College of the Bahamas, augmented Mr Darville’s statement by adding that any society that does not offer its citizens an FOI Act is not a true democracy.

“The FOI Act is really the hallmark of any democracy,” Ms Benjamin said. “Freedom of Information is part of freedom of speech. The right to access information is an extension of freedom of speech.”

Ms Benjamin has spent the past year and a half studying legislation around the world, with particular emphasis on Commonwealth countries such as England, Jamaica, Trinidad, New Zealand and Canada, as part of a Freedom of Information consultation committee formed to solicit public consultation regarding appropriately revising inconsistent and nebulous language that ultimately prevented the 2012 FOIA from being enacted.

She joined Mr Darville on Thursday along with fellow FOIA experts Lemarque Campbell, a representative of Citizens for a Better Bahamas (CBB) and Matt Aubry, executive director for the Organization for Responsible Government (ORG), to urge the Bahamian public to offer input on the Freedom of Information Act before the public consultation deadline expires on July 15.

“We need to boil it down and convert people to get on board with this act. We need to make them realise they need this act, that they will be using this act going forward,” Mr Aubry said. “Right now the process is being driven by folks who already understand the value of the Freedom of Information Act - activists, lawyers and the media. We have to get people to understand how critical this is to day-to-day life. People’s concerns about the safety in their neighbourhood, the health issues in their community, how monies are being spent … this [FOIA] is our pathway, this is our door in. This starts participatory democracy.”

After all, Mr Campbell added, at the end of the day, it’s the people’s money that’s being spent, so the public should have the right to know how fiscal decisions are being made and why. To address the issues of transparency and accountability, the CBB formed a committee last August to make its own recommendations for changes. After reviewing the most recent FOIA draft released in May 2015, CBB members were particularly concerned over the definition of public authority (ie: how public authority is defined when it comes to who is required to release information to the public). Currently the bill defines public authority strictly as government ministry and statutory bodies.

Additionally, Mr Campbell and members of the CBB stress that the person overseeing implementation of the FOIA and responsible for upholding its tenants - the information commissioner - needs to be completely independent of political affiliation. Current language mandates this individual be a political appointee, but the CBB recommends this position be appointed by an independent body that includes members of the government as well as opposition members.

Funding for the bill is another major concern that should be formally outlined, according to Mr Campbell.

“This is a very important piece of legislation that will help our democracy and it needs to be funded properly,” he said. “This bill will encourage citizen participation, giving them the tools to request and demand accountability.”

For more information on the Freedom of Information Act, please visit www.savethebays.bs, www.orgbahamas.com or www.citizensforabetterbahamas.org. Written recommendations should be emailed to foibahamas@gmail.com.