Dr. Brown has again promised that PATI (freedom of information) legislation will be tabled before the House of Assembly this year.
Let’s hope it incorporates the substantial feedback that was provided by both Bermudians and international experts in public access laws.
Meanwhile, the Cayman Islands Information Commissioner has launched a new website on their PATI law at [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Transparency'
PATI
March 11th, 2010 · No Comments · Accountability, Transparency
Reform the House
January 26th, 2010 · No Comments · Accountability, Transparency
Last week, MP John Barritt wrote in the Royal Gazette about some changes proposed to the “standing Orders” of the House of Assembly that have been proposed by he and Deputy Speaker Dame Jennifer Smith.
The MPs have had the draft since the House broke for summer recess last year, and one hopes the House [...]
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Squelching Accountability
December 14th, 2009 · No Comments · Accountability, Bermuda Politics, Transparency
The PLP pays a lot of lip service to transparency and accountability but, based on their actions, one has to question their actual commitment.
The PLP leadership refuses to allow the Public Accounts Committtee (PAC) of the House of Assembly to meet in public – an abberation among modern democracies.
And, it appears that the PLP members [...]
PATI Retroactivity
December 4th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Accountability, Transparency
The Premier has taken an about-face on the issue of PATI retroactivity, commenting:
“I wish to advise this honourable House that when I invite Cabinet’s further consideration of the bill it will contain a recommendation that it consider the issue of retroactivity. Personally, I wish it to be clearly understood that I am in favour of [...]
Deliberate Distortion of Reality
December 1st, 2009 · Comments Off · Accountability, Transparency
Senator Walton Brown is all over the news and talk radio decrying the public complaints about weaknesses in the draft PATI law as a “deliberate distortion of reality”.
He went on to describe how the section to allow the Minister to amend the PATI law by regulation was only intended to simplify updates to the law [...]
Deadline for PATI Input
November 30th, 2009 · No Comments · Accountability, Transparency
This afternoon is the deadline for public input to the PATI “public access to information” bill. I encourage you to make a submission, no matter how brief. The PATI bill may be found here:
Bermuda PATI Draft law [pdf]
Bermuda PATI Consultation Handbook [pdf]
Submissions should be directed to The Cabinet Secretary at pati@gov.bm.
The issue of retroactivity is [...]
International Input on PATI
October 27th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Accountability, Bermuda Politics, Transparency
Article 19 has published a commentary on the proposed Bermuda freedom of information bill (aka public access to information or PATI).
Article 19 is a highly-respected international human rights organisation with a specific focus on the defence and promotion of freedom of expression and freedom of information worldwide.
While praising Bermuda for tackling PATI, they highlight the [...]
PATI Whistleblow
October 26th, 2009 · No Comments · Accountability, Bermuda Politics, Transparency
As widely reported, the Bermuda draft freedom of information law (aka PATI) allows great scope for Government to sit on information.
For example, the law proposes a lengthy (2-3 year) implementation period and will only apply to information collected after its effective date.
There is a long list of specific exemptions, as well as vague wording that [...]
Public Access to Information
October 15th, 2009 · Comments Off · Accountability, Transparency
Six years after it was first announced by then-Premier Alex Scott, the Bermuda Government has published its draft freedom of information access (FOIA) law for public consultation.
A successful public access to information law (PATI) would represent a significant step ahead in Bermuda’s development, so I encourage all Bermudians to read through it and to participate [...]
Tags:FOIA·freedom of information access·PATI·public access to information
Peek a PATI
July 9th, 2009 · Comments Off · Accountability, Transparency
The Premier announced yesterday that PATI legislation will be one of the first topics on the parliamentary schedule in November.
That’s nice.
Bermuda has been waiting for the promised freedom of information bill for a long time. The whole process behind Government’s efforts have been pretty stretched out and secretive – which goes against the whole concept [...]