By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

TWO years is “too long” to wait to implement a revised Freedom of Information Act, environmentalists told The Tribune yesterday.

ReEarth group representatives Sam Duncombe and Sonya Alvino were responding to Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald, who has responsibility for the Act, saying this week that the Department of Archives suggested an implementation timeline of 18 to 24 months for the legislation.

“It’s too long. We’ve already waited, how long, to have this done. I mean other countries are way ahead of us,” said Ms Alvino.

“Ninety-three countries have the Freedom of Information Act,” said Ms Duncombe, the founder of ReEarth.

“This just smacks of more back-door deals that we’ve been fighting. This is part of the reason we got into this fight and like Sonya said, two years is two years too long. That Act needs to be brought out to the public, have everybody weigh in and let’s make that happen this year,” she said.

Their comments were made after the landmark ruling yesterday by Justice Stephen Isaacs who squashed and revoked the government’s permits and approvals to the multi-million dollar Blackbeard’s Cay tourist attraction.

On Tuesday, FNM Deputy Chairman Duane Sands said the two-year delay in implementing the Act showed a lack of legislative discipline and defended the Freedom of Information Bill that was passed in the House of Assembly before the 2012 General Election, saying that it was almost verbatim to the Act in the Cayman Islands. 

While he conceded there was room to make it better, Dr Sands stressed there was no reason for it to take up to two years before the government could produce a revamped Act to parliament.

DNA Leader Branville McCartney also weighed in on the delay of implementing the FOIA and said the government’s “feet dragging” in doing so is just another way to keep Bahamians uninformed as to what is really happening within their country.

Yesterday, speaking of their successful application for judicial review against the Blackbeard Cay project, Ms Alvino said: “If we had a Freedom of Information Act in place, these sorts of justice settlements would take place a lot faster for the protection of not only animals, but humans who are wronged.”

“There are so many cases of injustice where citizens are left out in the cold and unable to march to court so we’re thrilled that we got a win for us and a win for the dolphins, but I think a Freedom of Information Act would get a win for the country and so many more with these cases,” she concluded.