CAYMAN ISLANDS: A Step toward Transparent Democracy

Freedom of Information Law set
Published on Sunday, January 4, 2009
Source: http://www.caymannetnews.com/news-12602--1-1---.html Carole Excell Freedom of Information (FOI) Coordinator Dan Duguay Auditor General Billy Adam Businessman By Tad Stoner tad@caymannetnews.com Pronouncing herself “ready to go”, Freedom of Information (FOI) Coordinator Carole Excell – and 89 Information Managers throughout Government – on Monday morning will usher in the Cayman Islands first guarantee of public access to official records. First legislated on 31 August 2007, the long-awaited bill enables the public to seek information on any subject from any government entity, and obligates government to respond, usually within one month of the request. “It takes the member of the public acting on their rights to enforce their right to know,” said Ms Excell. “It’s up to people to make [the law] work. “It makes the Government more transparent and accountable. Members of the public have the right to access public records and it helps you make decisions. If you want to know how your country runs, you want to participate in that and you care about your country, you need access to information. It enables you to make informed decisions.” She said the legislation was not limited to Caymanians. “Everyone who lives here has an interest,” she said. “For example: Why are you sending your children to one school if you don’t know how it is run or how the others are run? What are your rights as a tenant? You need to find out what the rules are, even if there are rules at all, and then demand that there be rules if there are none.” Commenting on the long-awaited FOI Law, Auditor General Dan Duguay, charged with scrutinising Government value-for-money transactions, said the promulgation of the new law was critical. “I think it’s a great thing,” he said, “a great thing for the Cayman Islands. My office is all about accountability; that is what we do, and I strongly support this a way for people to get the information they want.” He said his office was unlikely to need the FOI law because it already had full access to government records. “We are in the information game, and I have never had any problem getting information myself because that’s what we do. FOI is much more for others; it’s a great thing.” Social commentator and local activist Billy Adam greeted the new law with a mixture of relief and hope. “The proof will be in the pudding, to see how much they actually are going to release,” he said, but lauded the efforts of the ruling People’s Progressive Movement (PPM) and its political chief, Leader of Government Business Hon Kurt Tibbetts, almost single-handedly responsible for realising the legislation. “The PPM has got to be congratulated for getting this through,” he said. “They followed through, and kept their campaign promise. “This ushers in a whole new era of participatory democracy,” he said, referring to a proposal in the draft of the new Cayman Islands constitution to allow ‘people’s referendums’ on a variety of issues. “With the constitutional proposals still to be seen, and in order for people to make informed decisions, it is necessary to have information.” Mr Adam said that already he had, ahead of today’s activation of the law, filed two FOI requests “with four or five more to go”. One, he said, would be an enquiry about the lack of operating licences at the new West Bay and Morgan’s Harbour dolphin facilities; another would seek to learn what the Attorney General knew about laws governing operations at the attractions. “I want to see comments on the new Conservation Law being held up; I want full details on the CITES [the United Nation’s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species] information on the capture of the dolphins; and I will ask the Ministry of Planning why we don’t have an overall development plan. “I will also ask about Vision 2008 and what discussions have taken place in government about it,” he said. Ms Excell said she expected an initial flurry of requests, and a few administrative “teething problems”, but anticipated it would settle down shortly. “We will probably get more requests in the first month, and then by, say, the end of January, we’ll see what agencies are getting the most requests. At first, people may not provide sufficient information to enable managers to identify what information they want, and then people may not get the required response in the time frame they expected.” Historically, she said, the bulk of requests went to ministries of finance and treasury as people sought financial records; to immigration and health departments for personal records; and to the police and departments of the environment – “especially with the dolphins coming in”. She acknowledged fears that officials could hide behind the law, exploiting the mandated time frames for responding to requests. “We have to change a culture and sensitise pubic officials, make sure they understand and are making their preparations and doing their record surveys so they know what records they even have. People only started to take this seriously recently,” she said. Ms Excell said she was poised to file two requests of her own today. “I just want to know how a couple of things work, why they are they way they are,” she said, declining, however, to elaborate. “What we’re trying to explain is that FOI is for information that they have not already supplied. It’s not about answers on a telephone, but about seeing records on request. It’s more formal and is about government responding within the period of the law – and within the spirit of the law,” she said.

REPUBLICA DOMINICANA: Presupuesto Participativa

Buscan consenso presupuesto participativo

Fuente: http://lainformacionrd.net/index.php?idnoticia=23868&seccion=3&nseccion=Ciudad&cat=noticias&a=1

Ante el cuestionamiento de definir el Presupuesto Participativo, contestaríamos categóricamente, que no existe una definición única, porque los Presupuestos Participativos varían mucho de un lugar a otro.

Sin embargo, en general, el Presupuesto Participativo es "un mecanismo (o un proceso) Por el cual la población define o contribuye a definir el destino de todo o una parte de los recursos públicos".

Ubiratan de Souza, uno de los primeros responsables del Presupuesto Participativo en Porto Alegre (Brasil) propone una definición más precisa y más teórica que se puede aplicar a la mayoría de los procesos : "El Presupuesto Participativo es un proceso de democracia directa, voluntaria y universal, donde el pueblo puede discutir y decidir sobre el presupuesto y las políticas públicas. El ciudadano no limita su participación al acto de votar para elegir al Ejecutivo o al Parlamento, sino que también decide las prioridades de gastos y controla la gestión del gobierno".

"El Presupuesto Participativo deja de ser un coadyuvante de la política tradicional, para ser protagonista permanente de la gestión pública. Combina la democracia directa con la democracia representativa, una conquista a ser preservada y calificada". De hecho, es una forma de democracia participativa, es decir una combinación de elementos de democracia directa o semi-directa con la democracia representativa.

Esta herramienta de Gestión nace formalmente en 1989 en algunas ciudades brasileñas, particularmente en Porto Alegre. Fuera de Brasil, a partir de 1990, en Montevideo (Uruguay).

Se pueden identificar tres grandes fases en su expansión: la primera (1989-1997) caracterizada por experimentaciones en pocas ciudades; la segunda (1997-2000) por una masificación brasileña, durante la cual más de 130 municipios adoptaron el Presupuesto Participativo; y la tercera (2000 en adelante), por la expansión fuera de Brasil y su diversificación. Actualmente, más de 300 ciudades han adoptado esta modalidad de gestión Pública.

Experiencias de Presupuesto Participativo se dan fundamentalmente en el ámbito de los Municipios. Brasil continúa siendo el principal país en donde ocurren (aproximadamente 80% del total). Los países de la región andina (Perú, Ecuador y más recientemente Bolivia y Colombia) son el segundo gran foco de experiencias.
Sin embargo, se dan también con diferentes niveles de consolidación y en forma puntual, en los demás países de la Región (Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, República Dominicana, Nicaragua, El Salvador y México).

En nuestro país se inicia en el Municipio de Villa González en el año 1998, durante la Gestión del Gobierno Local encabezado por el Lic. Víctor José D’Aza, actual Director Ejecutivo de la FEDOMU.

Pero en la tarde de hoy, en esta "media isla ubicada en el mismo trayecto del sol" nos encontramos en el Municipio de Santo Domingo Este, capital de la Provincia de Santo Domingo, donde la transparencia se manifiesta de manera plena, en este acto de rendición de cuentas a sus munícipes, por parte del Lic. Juan de los Santos Sindico de esta demarcación geográfica, de cómo se han invertido los recursos recibidos en las diferentes prioridades del Municipio.

Es de trascendental importancia que no solo en Santo Domingo Este se haga este ejercicio de transparencia de los recursos recibidos, sino que de acuerdo a lo establecido por la Ley No. 176-07 del Distrito Nacional y los Municipios en su artículo No.236 se use la herramienta del Presupuesto Participativo Municipal.

BERMUDA: Access to information benefits democracy

The following recent article from Bermuda coinciding with International Right to Know Day supports the passing of PATI legislation in Bermuda and highlights the need for free public access to information in order to ensure transparency and accountability in representative government and as a prerequisite for citizen participation in governance. - Editor

How Freedom of Information benefits democracy

Published: September 27. 2008 09:16AM
Source: http://www.royalgazette.com/siftology.royalgazette/Article/article.jsp?articleId=7d89db230030002&sectionId=60

With PATI legislation Bermuda would be seen internationally as a safer place to work, live and trade

Tomorrow is International Right to Know Day, established in 2002 to mark the founding on September 28 of the global Freedom of Information Advocates Network.

It aims to raise awareness of every individual's right of access to government-held information, the right to know how elected officials are exercising power and how taxpayers' money is being spent.

Through its A Right to Know – Giving People Power campaign,The Royal Gazette is calling on the Government to speedily introduce its Public Access to Information (PATI) law.

This article was written for this newspaper by James M. Ferguson, of the Access to Information Programme Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative.

The right to information, a human right first recognised by the United Nations in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is a right that plays a crucial role in ensuring that citizens are better informed about both the people they are electing and the activities undertaken by them while in government.

The underlying foundation of the democratic tradition rests on the premise of an informed electorate that is able to hold its government accountable for the policies and decisions it makes. To retain legitimacy and respect, elected representatives must be accountable to the public by openly disclosing information about the activities they undertake with public funds.

Since the UDHR was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948, human rights have been further developed and codified in international law by individual UN treaties. One of the core human rights treaties is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), under which Article 19 concerns the right to access information: a right which gives practical meaning to the principles of participatory democracy. Adherence to the standards rooted in these core international human rights treaties is the benchmark by which the international community may judge the legitimacy of a government.

Bermuda accordingly has an opportunity to increase its legitimacy in the international community through the introduction of a functioning Public Access to Information (PATI) regime. In addition to informing the electorate generally, a functioning PATI regime will also be a means the following specific ends:

• First, it will operate as an effective anti-corruption tool, increasing transparency by opening up government decision-making processes to public scrutiny. In 2004, of the ten countries scoring worst in Transparency International's annual Corruption Perceptions Index, only one had a functioning access to information regime. In contrast, of the ten countries perceived to be the best in terms of corruption, no fewer than eight had effective legislation enabling the public to see government files.

• Second, it will support participatory development. Much of the failure of development strategies is attributable to their being designed and implemented in a closed environment: one that is absent of participation by the governed.

If governments are obligated to provide information, the governed can be empowered to more holistically determine their own development by assessing for themselves the merits of competing development strategies.

•Third, it will provide support to economic development and the market-friendly, good governance principles of transparency and accountability. Markets, like governments, do not function well in secrecy, and openness encourages a political and economic environment more conducive to the free market tenets of 'perfect information' and 'perfect competition'. A right to information ensures that information does not become commodified solely for the benefit of, in political terms, the bureaucracy; in economic terms, the increased flow of information empowers consumers to choose better products, and the market rewards those making the best products with higher sales. Increased information flow thus encourages greater investor confidence, resulting in stronger growth.

A functioning PATI regime will empower Bermudians to observe the standards rooted in the core human rights treaties. As an example, Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) creates a right to public education, the provision of which is binding upon signatories to the Convention. PATI legislation, by requiring government-run education institutions to provide parents and citizens access to information about schools, will effectively promote increased transparency and accountability in the education system and help satisfy international obligations under the ICESCR.

As another example, Article 13(1) of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) states, "the child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice." There exists an international consensus recognising the crucial significance of the right of access to information for children for realising their rights.

A well-drafted PATI law will also protect officials who wrongfully, but in good faith, disclose information under the Act. Officials responsible may legitimately be concerned that wrong decisions on their parts could result in action being taken against them. International experience demonstrates that a provision protecting government officials and employees is essential in order to foster a culture of openness and guard against this possibility.

The introduction of PATI legislation may cause temporary tension within branches of the government concerned with issues such as national security and energy; however, in almost all cases, it is easier to achieve sustainability on such issues in countries that are democratic and respect the rule of law. While there may be short-term challenges to reconcile, the long-term benefits in promoting human rights, democracy and good governance are clear.

The promotion of human rights, democracy, and good governance, is tangibly in the best interests of Bermuda. By adopting PATI legislation, Bermuda will be seen in the international community as a safer place in which to work, live, trade with or visit. Bermuda will also be seen as a country more likely to settle disputes peacefully and as one respecting international legal commitments: whether on human rights, security matters, economic issues, or the environment.

PATI legislation will harmonise the conflicting interests of a functioning democracy with interests of the efficient operations of government, the optimum use of limited resources, and the preservation of confidentiality of sensitive information. Countries which are truly democratic respect the rights of citizens and observe the rule of law both at home and abroad. This involves a process of decision making that respects a plurality of opinion, provides a framework for non-violent change, and manages conflict peacefully, based on equal opportunity to participate in the political process. A true democracy is a system of government in which individuals have the opportunity to fully realise their human rights.

James M. Ferguson is part of the Access to Information Programme of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), an international, independent, non-governmental organisation founded in 1987, with offices in India, Ghana and the United Kingdom, whose objectives are to promote awareness of and adherence to international human rights obligations for the practical realisation of human rights in Commonwealth countries.

JAMAICA: Local Government Reform

Community Activism at the Heart of Local Governance - Montague

Office of the Prime Minister
KINGSTON (JIS):
Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Source: http://www.jis.gov.jm/officePM/html/20080813T100000-0500_16323_JIS_COMMUNITY_ACTIVISM_AT_THE_HEART_OF_LOCAL_GOVERNANCE___MONTAGUE.asp

Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister, with responsibility for Local Government Reform, Robert Montague, has expressed the view that community activism is at the heart of local governance in Jamaica.

The State Minister was speaking at an awards presentation ceremony for community service, at Toronto Botanical Gardens in Canada, recently.

"It (community activism) enriches our democratic process and allows citizens to explore the range of opportunities presented to them to advance their community developmental agenda.In those situations, buy-in is not difficult, because citizens can readily identify with the vision and mission of the projects and programmes they themselves help to design," Mr. Montague said.

He pointed out that accountability is better ensured when there is community activism, since the people involved usually take ownership of the initiatives and take responsibility for their outcomes.

"This bottom-up approach to local governance fosters volunteerism and engenders community pride," he added.

Community participation is called participatory democracy by academics, Mr. Montague pointed out, "because the process begins with the community, which is a defined geographical area in which the citizens share common ownership of resources and facilities and regard themselves as having common objectives, interests and needs."

"Modern local governance is an inclusive and dynamic process through which local citizens achieve effective local self-management by active participation in local decision-making processes about the way they live and interact with their environment. The challenge is to convert the energy and creativity at the community level in an organisational form, to allow the citizens to express their interest in matters that affect their daily lives and to develop the sense of responsibility for the communities in which they live and work," Mr. Montague added.

Trinidad: Organizations Call for More Transparency and Participation

Whether openly acknowledged or not, corruption is a problem that people face all over the world. Corruption by it's very nature erodes democratic processes and usurps power from the people while their representatives engage in criminal acts more often that not without accountability. Transparency is a key first step toward countering this effect and expanding participatory democracy because it allows the people to expose corruption as well as see directly the effects of their votes and their own voice within the government, or lack thereof. Many social movements and NGOs are working toward transparency within central governments, but we have a long way to go before this corruption is revealed to the extent necessary to make the general populace aware of just how rampant it is in most cases. The following article from Trinidad and Tobago demonstrates one example of efforts to promote transparency in favor of democracy. - Editor

Letter: People's right to know


Published on Thursday, June 19, 2008

Source: http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-8617--7-7--.html

Dear Sir:

The Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute (TTTI) has had cause in the past to voice its concerns over Government’s selective use of transparency in its approach to governance.

In 2001, Government inherited the Freedom of Information Act from the previous administration and, in the ensuing years, reduced its effectiveness by exempting from the Act first the Central Bank and then selected State-funded agencies. This was a major curtailment by government of the people’s right to information and, at that time, very few civil society voices were raised in protest.

Next we saw government’s habitual delays in answering questions raised in Parliament and, in some cases, either refusing to answer or giving very limited information. This trend continues today.

Government also attempted to limit citizens’ right to bring public interest litigation against the state by proposing revisions to the Judicial Review Act.

Public procurement practices are replete with examples of Government’s unwillingness to provide timely information to the public whose money is being spent. One example is the continued refusal by Government, in the face of many calls from TTTI and others, to make public the technical studies (paid for by taxpayers) which the Prime Minister and the Line Minister told Parliament recommended the adoption of the multi-billion dollar Rapid Rail System over other less expensive options.

More recently, government sought to protect UDeCoTT from public scrutiny in the face of serious concerns voiced and allegations made by many respected persons and organisations in the society. Eventually, government bowed to the pressure of those calls but still sought to control the process by opting for a Joint Selective Committee of Parliament and only later agreeing to the Commission of Enquiry called for.

The latest example of the lack of transparency was seen when government refused to disclose in Parliament how much of taxpayers’ money was spent on fees for professional services on the dubious grounds of protecting the recipient’s rights to privacy.

We note that some important independent voices have been raised against this latest curtailment of the people’s right to information on how their money is being spent. More civil society organisations should raise their voices in protest over this latest development. Government’s decision in this matter must be reversed because of its far-reaching implications.

TTTI senses that there is a wind of change blowing through this country and bringing with it more national consciousness. Civil society seems to have awakened from its slumber hence the many voices being heard today in protest over the UDeCOTT matter, escalating crime, high food prices, failures in the education and health systems, infrastructure inadequacies etc

This awakening is good for our democracy but civil society must go further and insist on its right to information and it’s acceptance by Government as a partner in the governance of the country. Civil society must also insist on its voice being heard and listened to and its suggestions acted upon by government. Civil society must demand a culture of consultation and a truly participatory democracy for our country and accept nothing less.

Victor Hart
Chairman
Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute