The citizens of the Bahamas must be encouraged to get involved in the push for a Freedom of Information Act, two international experts told reporters yesterday.
George Papagiannis, director of programme development and support for Internews Network and Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press addressed journalists during a teleconference yesterday at the US Embassy on World Press Freedom Day.
“We sometimes think of FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) as a part of the news business’ agenda. It is something that journalists have to have. But we are not the only constituent. In fact the real constituent of a FOIA is the community that you serve,” Mr Papagiannis said.
For any democracy to be strong, Mr Papagiannis said, people need to have access to information and governments need to be transparent.
“The real constituents here are the people of the Bahamas. They have to understand that this is something that it is important to them and it is about good governance,” he said.
He cautioned that the press must engage the public in the discussion.
“You don’t want to look like the gladiators in the ring. This is not sport. People need to have a vested interest and I think it is the role of the media to point out to people that there is a vested interest in how these battles unfold,” he said.
Ms Dalglish said one of the countries that has recently adopted a freedom of information act is Mexico. The act is only a couple of years old but it was based on a recognition that democracy functions best when the public has information.
“Your publications need to have the editorial message that gets out repeatedly. This is taxpayer money and the people have a right to know where it is going,” she said.
Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Montagu MP Brent Symonette, told The Tribune yesterday that his committee is having a difficult time getting information on the current state of the country’s finances.
Situations such as this Mr Symonette said should not necessitate a FOIA and should just be common courtesy of the government of the day.
“They finally gave us the 2003 accounts for the Public Accounts Committee to review and only brought three copies for a committee of five people. That was 10 days ago and when I went back to the House yesterday I asked where the extra copies were and they were not available.
Mr Symonette said it was pointless to pass a Freedom of Information Act for the purposes of forcing government to make public the spending of public funds because there are current laws that require that they lay that information on the table of the House.
While that may be true, there is no way for anyone outside of government to “enforce” the current law other than suing the establishment for the information. Mr Symonette conceded: “Unless there is a will on behalf of the current government of the day you are wasting your time.”
Mr Papagiannis pointed out that democracy is a work in progress while there is nothing perfect about the system the checks and balances that exist within in it cannot exist with out an independent and vigorous press that can highlight a government’s shortcomings.
By RUPERT MISSICK Jr Chief Reporter
