Reviewing the Access to Information Act in Jamaica

On 11 January, the Joint Select Committee of Jamaica’s Parliament held its first meeting to review the national 2002 Access to Information Act as mandated by the law. This Committee is expected to conclude its review by the end of March.

Over the last two years, Jamaicans for Justice (www.jamaicansforjustice.org) has been working to encourage the use of the 2002 Access to Information Act by the general public, NGOs, civil society groups and community-based organisations. We have also been monitoring responses to requests. These activities have led to the creation of a formal Consortium of Access to Information Users. We have also uncovered a number of areas where the Act needs clarification, strengthening or amending to make it a more effective tool for bolstering transparency in governance. These issues will be included in the Consortium of Access to Information Users’ submissions to the Joint Select Committee of Parliament.

Understaffing at the ATI Unit

Most significantly, the resignation of the Executive Officer and Public Relations Officer of the Access to Information (ATI) Unit, leaving the Unit with a staff complement of one Administrative Officer, has been a severe blow to the smooth implementation and monitoring of the Act. The Government’s failure to fill these positions has further handicapped the Unit’s operations. As a consequence, public officers charged with administering the Act have no dedicated unit to go to for advice, especially in terms of interpreting the Act, outside the Attorney General’s department. In turn, this has resulted in officers responding to requests where it is not clear what information is being requested by stating that the document does not exist or by simply not answering at all. Meanwhile, points of clarification and interpretation have remained unresolved. Performance monitoring has also suffered from the lack of staff at the ATI Unit, meaning that implementation of the Act among Public Authorities has been extremely inconsistent.

With the dysfunction of the ATI Unit, the public has been left with no official recourse to resolve simple problems such as lack of knowledge of Government Access Officers, bureaucratic obstacles to assessing information (such as delays in the processing of requests), and uncertainty of who to address with complaints concerning poor service or inappropriate conduct of access officers. These problems underline the need to include provisions mandating the establishment, maintenance and functions of a dedicated monitoring and implementation agency.

Which Government Bodies are Covered by the Act?

Another issue that will be the subject of submissions to the Parliamentary Review Committee is the need to clarify the exact jurisdiction of the Act. In particular, it is not clear whether the Act applies to certain government and quasi-government bodies such as:

Weak Appeals Mechanism

There have also been problems concerning the composition and functioning of the Appeals Tribunal, which to date has only managed to sit on two days to hear three appeals. The Tribunal lacks full-time staff members and a dedicated secretariat. The Consortium also hopes to raise problems with the Tribunal’s regulations with the Parliamentary Committee.

The Committee must also clarify a range of other issues in order to ensure the effective implementation of the Act. These include clarifying:

The Committee must also ensure that Ministries and Agencies provide reasons for requesting a time extension to meet a request. Finally, the Committee must carry out the long promised repeal of the Official Secrets Act. Indeed, this will be critical in determining the long-term success of the Act.

Conduct of the Review

One disappointing development in the lead up to the review has been the lack of any notification of interested parties about the appointment of the Parliamentary Committee and its scheduled first sitting on 11 January. As a result, no member of the Consortium, Jamaicans for Justice, or the ATI Advisory Stakeholders Committee was able to attend the first sitting.

At that meeting, the Committee set out the main issues that it intended to address. These included public education about the Act, the period of time allowed for response to applications, overload caused by voluminous requests, protection of advice given in the form of documents, costs of providing the services efficiently and the continuing use of the Official Secrets Act. Information Minister, Burchell Whiteman, revealed that the Committee would invite submissions from particular groups, including the Advisory Committee of Stakeholders (a coalition of NGOs) and the Association of ATI Administrators, as well as calling for submissions from the general public.

It is hoped that vigorous civil society and user participation will ensure the Committee properly addresses the problems arising from the Act’s implementation. However, the Government of Jamaica must also not retreat from its commitment to accountability, transparency and public participation in national decision-making, which are the key objectives of the Access to Information Act 2002.