THE ISSUE of the judges' salaries is not the only bitter taste of access denied, request ignored or distorted. One Government agency, totally ignoring our request to view documents, sent us a ton of verbiage in trying to anticipate and dilute what it felt we were on to.
A request to another Government agency since March has not been released although we know the matter has been researched. We know that a document has been prepared and yet, we have not been able to get it, despite numerous telephone calls to that agency and the elusive representative to whom the request was directly sent.
On one occasion when he was called, his secretary asked us to "hold a minute." She then returned a few minutes with: "Oh, I thought he was in his office; he is not here."
However, we know the layout of that office enough to know that if he was not in office, she would not have to get up out of her seat to find that out.
Nobody told us that this Access to Information thing was a dolly-house matter. Pardon us for thinking that it was a serious issue.
Some of the access officers are pleasant and are professional in their approach to dealing with the requests. One or two - Myrtle Williams, Responsible Officer in the Ministry of Transport and Works, for example - will do follow-up calls to ensure that the process is smooth and on track. But we cannot help but suspect that some persons are trying to circumvent the law and we notice that Access to Information has become a difficult task.
Access granted. That's the nice, good-news logo that we have been carrying with the stories published when access is granted.
Our designer is ready. Her creative juices are flowing. Another logo.
Access denied!
