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.

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

NIGERIA: Participatory Democracy Part of Sustainable Development

The people must have a say in how their country creates the necessary infrastructure to ensure that all citizens have the opportunity to be successful and healthy. Leaders have historically manipulated the hopes of the population in order to gain political support, power, and money. But when the people have the opportunity to take part it structures of governance, suggestions regarding development are much more specific to the locality and the region instead of being imposed from above. Not only does this eliminate corruption, it ensures that the development will be sustainable and upheld by the people whom it directly effects. Nigeria is a popular topic because there have been many efforts at improving governance in that country, especially evidenced in this speech by Governor Aliyu. -Editor

Participatory democracy as an ingredient for sustainable development (1)

By Muazu Babangida Aliyu

Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu,
Niger State governorDistinguished scholars, today’s event is indeed a historic opportunity for me to share my views and experience with you with a view to stimulating our collective thinking on how we can evolve and sustain a credible development process in Nigeria through participatory democracy. I believe for us to achieve that, we should look at such variables as transparency, accountability, leadership and good governance. This may require us to enlighten, educate and mobilize the common people, for everybody to understand their role and place in the community, and to understand what to expect and what is expected of them.

Let me emphase how strongly I share the view that unless we in the developing democracies are able to systematically evolve a political system that takes account of our socio-cultural peculiarities and characteristics, we run the risk of thinking that the wholesale robust economic and democratic ideas and precepts of the developed world would have the magic wand to solve our developmental problems

We thus may be under a dangerous illusion that we are making progress while in the actual sense, we may indeed be engaging the reverse gear and be going in the reverse direction, because of wrong applications to different settings and environments. In other words, we must domesticate democratic principles to take cognizance of excellent values and institutions.

We need to understand that although there are general elements and principles of democracy - participation and inclusiveness, responsiveness, free and fair multi-party elections, freedom of speech and association, respect for human rights, observance of rule of law, etc., there is no universal blueprint for development. Development, in my view, must be home grown, home-made and targeted at improving the lives of the people. Indeed, development must be people-conscious and people-centred. And this precisely underscores the critical role of participatory democracy in sustainable development.

But first, we should be clear about what participatory democracy implies. In my view, the term ‘participatory democracy’ is tautology as the two words describe the same thing - depicting a process that emphasises the broad participation (decision-making) of constituents in the direction and operation of political systems. Whereas, in the actual sense, any democracy would rely on the participation of its citizens, which is the etymological root of the term ‘democracy’, derived from the Greek ‘demos’ and ‘krotos’ – combined to suggest that “the people rule”. This provides the general basis for the simple and widely held definition of democracy as ‘a government of the people, for the people and by the people’.

As earlier pointed out, we must appreciate that there is no universal blueprint of development or democracy. What matters most is which works well in bringing about good democratic practices that promote good governance to facilitate sustainable development in different settings. What do I mean here? Some forms of democracy tend to limit citizens’ participation to voting, thereby leaving actual governance to politicians, who often do not know any better than the electorate; especially if we consider the general psyche of Nigerians in 1999 when politics was left in major parts to charlatans and the unemployed. Many politicians see victory at the polls as an opportunity to make money, to plunder the state and corruptly mismanage the resources. No, it is not so and should not be so. Politics is too important to be left to the Nigerian politicians alone.

My strong view in this regard is that the Gown must make conscious efforts to meet the Town. Intellectuals and academics must participate in politics if we really desire sustainable development. We need to refocus attention on community-based activity which strives to create the opportunity for all members of the society, and not just the politicians, to make meaningful contributions to decision-making in the overall interest of the society. There is no such term as ‘professional politician’ who most often give the impression that they have the monopoly of wisdom in providing leadership. We – academics, public servants, farmers, artisans, etc - must all stand up to challenge this misleading assertion, and exercise our obligation to participate in governance at our individual levels. We can do this effectively by paying close attention to the programmes and manifestos of the political parties, by monitoring and asking questions about the implementation of the campaign pledges, by sending written contributions on ways to improve governance and indeed by having sympathy for or being bonafide members of a political party of our choice.

In order for participatory democracy to attain legitimacy and reinvigorate democratic politics as a whole, the institutional frameworks have to be established and certain conditions need to be in place.

• Participatory arrangements need to be open at their foundation to everyone affected by such decisions and people made aware of how such decisions affect their lives.

• There is need for mutually-agreed and openly-negotiated rules to be upheld by everybody, and mechanisms for sanctioning deviants.

• There should be an enabling environment for participatory institutions and groups to monitor implementation of government’s decisions. We should create both formal and informal institutions that should monitor, checkmate public servants with the objective to enhance their performance.

• There should be general sharing of knowledge; where users and service workers, for instance, can share their ‘inside knowledge’ to improving services, thus making the public service reform process democratic. People must be carried along in the entire decision-making process – from the inception through the implementation and review

For this concept to take firm roots and to produce desired effects, every social unit of the society needs to imbibe democratic ideals. This should in effect start at the family level, with parents being open and involving all family members, particularly the children, in decisions that affect the entire household. It should then go on to the school system, where democratic principles should be applied in the entire running of the schools, particularly on matters that people are likely to have differing positions and interests.

The same should take place in our faith-based groups and associations as well as in the large civil society, so that democratic values become fully established and entrenched in the society, rather than limiting such to party politics. In that process, people develop confidence in themselves, in their institutions and in the leadership

I had an opportunity to travel to Brazil on study tours, first, on federation and federalism, and second, on public services. I noted that when participatory democracy was introduced in municipal administration of Brazil’s Porto Alegre, it enhanced transparency, reduced corruption, assisted in the redistribution of public resources from the high income areas of the city to the poor areas and improved the efficiency of the social services. Indeed, people were/are willing to blow the whistle on corrupt public officials and began/begin to see public property as the peoples’ property, with a sense of ownership being translated into positive protection and increased value

It is significant to stress that popular participation in politics not only enhances good governance – exposing corruption, challenging bureaucratic systems, keeping close to the real needs of the people – it also raises ‘political consciousness about economic power at every level’. What I observe in Niger State is that many people, many villages and indeed many communities know and understand their problems; they understand their needs and the solutions to their problems. However, many do not appreciate the concept of economic power – that every kobo allocated to their local government or state is actually their money; that they need to ask questions and to hold whoever is in charge of the resources responsible – be it the President, the governor, the local government chairman or even the councillor – for every expenditure or the lack of it

They should therefore demand not only for quality services to be delivered transparently but also respectfully, because government is about people and for the people and not about some esoteric ideas that have no bearing with peoples’ lives

We demonstrated this concept of people-centred and people-conscious politics during our recent local government elections which our party, PDP won in all 25 local government councils, for the first time in the political history of Niger State. How did we achieve that feat? Simply, we insisted on non-interference with the political process leading to the nomination of candidates; that is, non-imposition, and therefore discouraged ‘godfatherism’. But above all, we were sensitive to the expressed needs of our people and earned their confidence through demonstrated commitment to the improvement of the quality of their lives

The point to note in this is that when you demand, as an individual, to know the state of public expenditure simply for your selfish reasons, so that you can be ‘settled’ as a way of sharing with the corrupt ones, then you become compromised as one of them and you remain a beggar, - an apologist

Dr. Aliyu, the Niger State governor, delivered this paper at the Foundation Day lecture of the Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State on Saturday, May 10, 2008