By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

THE FREEDOM of Information Act legislation will be available for a first reading in parliament before the 2016/2017 budget debate, Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson said yesterday. 

Mrs Maynard-Gibson said Education Minister Jerome Fitzgerald, the minister with responsibility for the Act, is to meet with a “cross section” stakeholder team this week with an aim to finalise the legislation before “unveiling” it in Cabinet and subsequently presenting it before parliament. 

Mrs Maynard-Gibson also responded to critics of the government’s slowness in presenting the legislation before parliament for debate, stating that there is “no magic opportunity to make it work overnight”.

In October, outspoken attorney Fred Smith, QC criticised the government for not yet passing the FOIA, stating that the Christie administration has allowed the legislation to die “the natural political death of things that don’t have a priority in The Bahamas”.

Mr Smith hit out at the government – as well as the Free National Movement – for continuing to be “hypocrites in their electioneering and campaigning, promising the holy grail of Freedom of Information legislation, accountability, transparency in government, and yet have failed to respect the citizenry and electorate of The Bahamas.”

“There’s a process,” Mrs Maynard-Gibson said yesterday. “There’s no magic opportunity to make it work overnight. We have to understand that we have to make sure that everything is in place, including the resources – human resources and material resources that enable the (legislation) to work. 

“Minister Fitzgerald, who is presiding over the process, is in fact this week meeting with the cross section stakeholder team, and we expect it to be unveiled in Cabinet first, and then in parliament for a first reading before I would say the budget, that’s what we’re aiming for. We’re trying our best with stakeholders to get it right.” 

She added: “We all would have liked to see it move a lot quicker than it has. But really, as important as moving it quickly, is to get it right, and we’ve been spending the time to do that.”

In June last year, former State Minister for Legal Affairs Damian Gomez, QC, said the implementation of the FOIA will “not be a quick process”, adding that the government anticipates incurring “significant costs” to implement it. 

While not giving a rough estimate of those costs, Mr Gomez said its passing will “initiate a sea of change in attitudes and approaches of public officials to the provision of information to the public”.

Mr Gomez said that in order for the legislation to be successful, the management of public records needed to be addressed. 

A FOIA was passed in early 2012 by the former Ingraham administration, months before the last general election. However, there was no date for enactment. 

When the PLP assumed office that year, it said the legislation needed significant tweaking before it could be enforced. 

In May last year, the government released a draft of a revamped version of the legislation.