The government must adopt a cohesive approach to addressing the public. If the prime minister cannot adequately articulate the details of the web shop referendum to Bahamians, he would be wise to nominate an individual he trusts who can.
The misrepresentation of a “report” regarding lottery analysis helps to undermine any hope that this government would provide greater transparency to its intentions. The people of The Bahamas deserve to read the report or correspondence or whatever written documentation there may be.
The government places full confidence on the advice given in a purported collection of documents prepared by UK consultant, Dixon, Wilson and Co., and yet still fails to take a position. In a calculated move, it now escapes responsibility for the type of lottery gambling named in the referendum and its outcome.
It is for this reason, to pry open the closed doors of government policy, that Bahamians need the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Successive governments failed to debate and now to enforce the FOIA because it gives the people power to hold them more accountable. The act was first introduced in Parliament last October and a revamped version was passed in the Senate last February.
In August, Christie reaffirmed his pledge to enforce the FOIA and institute an Information Commission within this term. On August 23 while at the urban renewal program’s back-to-school jamboree at the Botanical Gardens, he said: “Those matters are under review by the Office of the Attorney General and in this term we are going to bring [it].”
When, prime minister, is your government going to choose to enforce the Freedom of Information Act?
Much to the detriment of the voting citizen, the enforcement of the FOIA is not likely to occur prior to the referendum; much less would an Information Commission be prepared to handle requests.
Requesting information on the legalization of web shops could hardly be considered a threat to national security; nor could it be considered Cabinet papers or confidential communication with a foreign country or international organization that would jeopardize security.
If this government is denying the public adequate information about the current operation of web shops because it feels that it is a matter of national security, then the people of The Bahamas should not be in the position to vote on such a highly contentious issue at all.
By enforcing the FOIA prior to the end of this government’s term, the prime minister and the Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) would show a commitment to transparency – a commitment to Bahamians that the government is working on behalf of the people and that it is doing so with unquestionable integrity.
Voting is the guarded right of a citizen. But voting blind on a referendum in which the government denies analysis it clearly thinks important is an abuse of the voting privilege.
Bahamians deserve the facts about current operations, the proposed regulations, and the proposed revenue of web shop operations.
Above all else, the government owes its position to the voting citizen. Voters should have the right to request information about a government that they helped elect. A transparent government only hurts those who have something to hide.
Editorial
The Nassau Guardian
