You have to question if Government are really serious about Public Access to Information (PATI). Last week, the Premier announced that Cabinet would post the details on some of the major contracts it grants. Which led to the obvious question: “how will those contracts be tendered?” Which led to the Premier’s press secretary Glenn Jones [...]
Entries Tagged as 'PATI'
Secret Society
March 21st, 2009 · Comments Off · Accountability, Bermuda Politics, Transparency
Tags:Contracting·FOIA·PATI
Baby Steps
March 18th, 2009 · Comments Off · Accountability, Bermuda Politics, Media, Transparency
The Premier announced that all contracts awarded by Cabinet will appear in the Official Gazette beginning April Fools Day. Contract details like the name of the contractor, the services to be provided, the amount of the contract, whether it was tendered or sole sourced, and the Ministry providing the funding will also be listed. Dr. [...]
Tags:Contracting·FOIA·PATI
PATI Progress!
March 17th, 2009 · Comments Off · Transparency
It’s Sunshine Week, a international initiative in which journalism organizations promote open government and freedom of information. (Government’s decree to cut advertising in its publications occurred around the time of the Royal Gazette’s dogged cheerleading of Sunshine Week last year). On cue, Attorney General Kim Wilson has promised that the Bermudian public will be asked [...]
FOI in Action
February 23rd, 2009 · Comments Off · Transparency
While Bermuda continues to pay lip service to public access to information, the Cayman Islands forge ahead. Their Freedom of Information (FOI) Unit has just released a report on the first month of implementation. The report summarises the total number of FOI requests received by public authorities and gives examples of the types of requests [...]
Accountability through Transparency
January 23rd, 2009 · Comments Off · Accountability, Development, Reform, Transparency
Here’s wishing: In our democracy, the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), which encourages accountability through transparency, is the most prominent expression of a profound national commitment to ensuring an open Government. At the heart of that commitment is the idea that accountability is in the interest of the Government and the citizenry alike. The Freedom [...]
Transparency and Ethics in Government
January 22nd, 2009 · Comments Off · Accountability, Transparency
In the United States, the first executive directives issued by an incoming President are closely watched as indicators of the tone of the new administration. It is telling that the first orders issued by President Obama yesterday dealt with ethics and transparency in Government. “Transparency and rule of law will be the touchstones of this [...]
Distortion and Lack of Openness
January 21st, 2009 · Comments Off · Accountability, Bermuda Politics, Transparency
Tom Vesey writes in the Bermuda Sun, regarding the Court House Construction Saga, that lack of openness breeds mistrust. Instead of explaining what’s going on, Works Minister Derrick Burgess declared the newspaper’s story was “false in almost every material respect”. It quickly became clear that the story was, in fact, completely true in almost every [...]
Grenada goes PATI
December 30th, 2008 · Comments Off · Accountability, Transparency
Grenada’s Prime Minister, Tillman Thomas, has announced to a meeting of the Media Workers Association of Grenada (MWAG) that his Government will move ahead to introduce a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), public sector integrity legislation, and an ombudsman. It will also work with the sector to establish a common code of practice and ethics [...]
Saying vs Doing
December 12th, 2008 · Comments Off · Accountability, Reform, Transparency
The Cayman Islands Freedom of Information Law 2007, will come into force on January 5, 2009. Cayman Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts said Cayman was one of the few countries in the world that had sought public participation during all stages of the conception and implementation of their FOI law and regulations. “As shown [...]
Integrity in Procurement
December 11th, 2008 · Comments Off · Accountability, Transparency
The OECD has published new principles on “enhancing integrity in public procurement” covering such areas as: corruption including bribery, kickbacks, nepotism, cronyism and clientelism; fraud and theft of resources, for example through product substitution in the delivery which results in lower quality materials; conflict of interest in the public service and in post-public employment; collusion; [...]