The Access to Information Advisory Committee has charged the Government to provide adequate staffing for the Access To Information (ATI) Unit at the Ministry of Information, in order to provide better service.

Chairperson for the advisory committee, Dr. Carolyn Gomes, said a greater staffing complement is needed to adequately address the many functions of the unit.

Additionally, the human rights activist pointed out that despite the achievements of the act, several difficulties have occurred due to procedural shortcomings and issues of interpretation. More public education campaigns, she said, are needed.

What has been going well

The response record.

Some Government ministries and departments have been exceptional in their willingness to provide information.

What has not been going well

The staffing complement of the ATI Unit and the Appeals Tribunal.

Public education on the rights of the public under the act and how and where to direct requests.

Lengthy delays for responses from the Appeals Tribunal.

Only one day being allotted for appeals.

Agencies that have received the most requests

The Child Development Agency, the ministries of Education, Agriculture, Finance and Health.

Number of requests so far

There have been 1,014 requests made under the ATI. A total of 478 requests were granted access.

Comments

Carolyn Gomes (on behalf of the advisory committee): "The parliamentary review board should appoint at least one full-time member (to the Appeals Tribunal) supported by adequate staff.

A concerted public education programme should be introduced and maintained for both the public and access officers. Best practices should be shared."

David Wong-Ken (attorney-at-law): "The appeals tribunal needs to be cognisant of the delays and the cost of the delays ... The greatest danger to the act is the shortcuts people take due to the lack of resources."

Gareth Manning (Gleaner reporter/winner of the ATI investigative journalism competition): "Government employees need to be more educated about the act and they need to understand the sense of urgency in granting information to members of the public who request it. There are still too many exemptions under the act also. There are too many documents that can be exempted and some laws need to be removed to empower the act. The Official Secrets Act is a clear contradiction to the establishing of the Access to Information Act and needs to be removed urgently."

The Access to Information Act was passed in 2002 and was implemented by 2004. In 2005, all Government agencies were brought under the act.