Former Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, retired Justice of Appeal, Charles Ramson took the oath before President Donald Ramotar on Monday as Commissioner of Information, a position he described as a “clearing house for all information requested for by members of the public.”
The appointment of a Commissioner of Information is set out under the long-awaited Access to Information Act of 2011.
“You have top secret, you have confidential, you have general information,” the Commissioner of Information said in an interview with members of the media following the swearing-in, according to the Government Information Agency (GINA).
Ramson said that any member of the public also includes those who are “domiciled” in Guyana.
“It’s not a question of Guyanese alone… one has to recognise that the act becomes operational and the information becomes part of the public domain only from the moment the Act was made operational by the President,” Ramson said, according to GINA.
The Act was passed in September of 2011 and is being operationalized over 20 years after the PPP/C came to office in 1992. It has been criticized as flawed.
The manner of appointment of the Commissioner of Information and the concentration of duties and power in this individual has been cited by critics.
Clause 5 says that (1) “The President shall appoint a Commissioner of Information who shall be a person of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience in law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass media or administration and governance. (2) The Commissioner of Information shall be a clearing house for processing requests and shall discharge the functions assigned to him under this act.”
Critics say that the appointing by the President is not appropriate in the framework of an executive presidency with few checks and balances and open to abuse.
Critics have also criticized the provision where the Commissioner acts as a clearing house. It has been argued that officers in the various ministries and government departments should be able to receive requests for information and take decisions on what to provide.
It has also been argued that the commissioner should be someone far removed from government to avoid the perception that requests that could embarrass those in office might be sidetracked.
