Information Bill proposed
The government of the Bahamas says it plans to propose a bill that would improve public access to government records.
New Governor General Sir Arthur Foulkes told legislators at the opening of Parliament that Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham’s administration will file a freedom of information bill.
He said it would “provide the Bahamian people and the media with greater access to government decision-making and actions.”
Sir Arthur delivered the Throne Speech after being sworn in Wednesday to be the British Queen’s representative in the country.
He is a veteran politician and diplomat who started his career as a reporter and editor at a Bahamas newspaper.
New anti-dumping rule
Caribbean nations have told the United Nations that they are ready to enforce a ban on dumping garbage at sea.
The UN outlawed dumping in 1993 for the Caribbean region but it could not take effect until countries in the region had adequate facilities to receive garbage from ships.
Member countries gave notice last month that they now had sufficient capacity.
The new rules of the UN’s International Maritime Organisation, or IMO, will take effect in May next year.
IMO consultant Jeff Ramos, speaking to the Associated Press news agency, called the change “a big deal”.
Under current rules, ships can dispose of metal, glass and other refuse a short distance from shore and almost any garbage farther out.
The pending ban will outlaw the discharging of any solid waste at any distance except for food, which could still be dumped three miles from shore.
Maritime accord attacked
The parliamentary opposition in Grenada believes the country has got a bad deal from a new maritime boundary agreement reached with Trinidad and Tobago.
Former energy minister, Gregory Bowen, claimed Grenada had negotiated from a position of ignorance.
He said Trinidad and Tobago had all the information on oil and gas potential in the region.
“Grenada has one,” he said.
Bowen said the current administration should have allowed a Russian company to begin energy exploration in Grenada’s waters to gather data before signing a maritime accord.
