WHITEMANRobert Hart, Staff Reporter
THE SENATE will not be debating the amendment to the Access to Information Act until the regulations governing its long-awaited implementation have been presented.
The amendment, entitled the Access to Information Amendment Act, 2003, was, however, tabled in the Upper House yesterday.
Senator Burchell Whiteman, Leader of Government Business, said a decision was taken to use the approaching debate on the amendment to the Act, to ensure that final consideration of the Bill and the regulations take place together. But, he did not reveal whether the move would cause any further delay in the implementation of the Act.
"We are literally at the stage of refining draft regulations in the light of submissions made by the stakeholders group," he said of the current status of the process. The stakeholders group includes civil society organisations, such as Jamaicans For Justice and the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights.
In justifying the decision to examine the Act and regulations together, Senator Whiteman reminded the Upper House of the suggestion made recently that it was "tidier and better for regulations to be tabled at the same time as a bill was being debated". Deputy Leader of Government Business, Senator A.J. Nicholson, made the observation two weeks ago during the debate on the toll road regulations.
The issue, which Opposition Senators have long bemoaned, had most recently surfaced when the Senate hurriedly examined the toll road regulations prior to the opening of Jamaica's first toll road on the Old Harbour bypass. The toll regulations were being debated a week after the Toll Authority regulations had been approved and a year after the Toll Roads Act was passed.
Last week the Government announced that the Access to Information Act, slated to come into effect on October 1, would be delayed by about three weeks, despite the preparedness of the Ministries and state agencies for the first phase of implementation.
Senator Whiteman had attributed the delay to "regrettable setbacks in meeting the legislative timetable".
Implementation of the Access to Information Act was originally scheduled for August 2003.
With the passing into law of the Act, Jamaicans will have access to certain documents, include some from Cabinet, that were previously classified. The Act, which will give the public greater access to Government information, was first passed in the Senate on June 28, 2002.
