Latest update March 18th, 2024 12:59 AM
Nov 20, 2016 News
After 18 months in office, Prime Minister Moses Nagamootoo is yet to take affirmative action
when it comes to the Office of the Commissioner of Information. Since 2013, that post is being held by Charles Ramson Sr.
According to the Act governing Ramson’s office, the responsible Minister should “as soon as practicable but not later than nine months, after the end of each year lay a report on the operation of this (Access to Information) Act in the National Assembly.”
The Act also states that the said report should include the number of requests made to the Commissioner of Information; the number of applications for judicial review of decisions and the outcome of those applications; the number of complaints made to the Commissioner of Information with respect to the operation of the Act and the nature of those complaints; the number of notices served upon the Commissioner of Information and the number of decisions by the Commissioner which were adverse to the person’s claim.
The Commissioner, however, is yet to produce a single report regarding the workings of his office and the application of the Access to Information Act. This fact was recently acknowledged by Nagamootoo.
Questioned about the efforts he has made to address this matter, the Prime Minister revealed that he is to send a letter to Ramson. He noted that the letter is yet to reach the Commissioner of Information.
The Prime Minister expects that upon receipt of his letter, Ramson would be able to explain himself. He said that Ramson would be given a time frame within which certain information would have to be made available to the relevant minister.
Regarding the performance of the Office of the Commissioner of Information, Nagamootoo said, “I am not aware that this office has done anything really, so being pleased is very subjective.”
The Prime Minister said the Commissioner of Information is bound by law to carry out certain functions such as receiving complaints and facilitating inquiries.
Nagamootoo also responded to comments by Ramson in the media that since his office is not being fully utilized then there really isn’t anything to report on.
The Prime Minister stressed that there is a statutory requirement for a report to be lodged in the National Assembly.
He added, “We would only know the difficulties being confronted by him if he were to submit those in writing to the house and have them subjected to the scrutiny of the House.”
While Parliament is left in the dark about the work of the Commissioner of Information, Ramson Sr. continues to draw a salary of approximately $1.2M a month.
The former Chief Justice has over the years, been accused of thwarting the process of access to information.
For this reason and others, former Auditor General, Anand Goolsarran, has said that he is convinced that taxpayers are not getting value for money when it comes to the Commissioner of Information.
Goolsarran said that every month, citizens are saddled with supporting an approximately $2M salary for Ramson when his efforts deny citizens’ right to access to information.
“Mr. Ramson’s basic salary is at least $1.5 million per month. Along with other benefits and allowances, it would exceed $2 million. Also, one recalls his ‘no money, no love’ reaction to Transparency Institute Guyana Inc. (TIGI) when it requested certain information. In this regard, Ramson cited the then Opposition-controlled National Assembly’s cutting off of funds for the then Office of the President under which he operated.
“The Commissioner should have been held accountable for denying TIGI access to the requested information.”
Speaking to another worrying observation, Goolsarran said that he checked the Access to Information Act and found that there is no provision in terms of limit in the tenure of office of the Commissioner.
In this regard, the former Auditor General said, “For how much longer will this imposition continue? No one knows. Meanwhile, the taxpaying public continues to be burdened with a monthly $2 million dollar bill for which little or no value for money is being received.”
The Chartered Accountant stated that what compounds the issue is the fact that Parliament is yet to receive a report on the application of the Access to Information Act as well as the operations of Ramson’s office.
Goolsarran noted, too, that the handing over of annual reports to the National Assembly is a key requirement of the law.
He said that the failure of the Commissioner’s office in this regard stymies any effort to carry out an assessment on the effectiveness of the Access to Information Act. The former Auditor General said this is a significant shortcoming in attempts to provide citizens and organizations with access to information of government programmes and activities.
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