The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

RETIRED Supreme Court Justice Keith Thompson's appointment as the country’s first Freedom of Information commissioner officially ended last month, raising questions about the status of the body's work amid renewed government pledges to strengthen transparency and accountability.

The Tribune can also confirm that Shane Miller’s contract for deputy commissioner also expired in May.

Both men were appointed to the positions under Minnis administration in May 2021.  However, their work has been hampered by underfunding and a lack of resources, leading to missed deadlines.

Budget allocations for the office have been routinely set at $140,000, an amount officials have previously said falls far short of the estimated $1 million needed to fully implement the transparency law.

In 2024, Mr Thompson told The Tribune that the budget was insufficient to achieve meaningful progress for his office.

Yesterday, Attorney General Wayne Munroe said an assistant FOIA commissioner remains in office and will provide a briefing on efforts to fully operationalise the office. It is unclear when the two new posts will be filled.

Matt Aubry, executive director of the Organisation for Responsible Governance, described the appointments of both a commissioner and deputy commissioner as central to advancing the office’s work and questioned who would now be their replacements.

He said the lack of clarity around leadership raises concerns about the body’s future direction.

“The act is very specific that this is to be driven with an independent information commissioner that has the specific criteria and is not to be removed unless either they remove themselves, or there's some reason to be so it raises a lot of questions,” he said.

“What is being designated as a priority? What will happen in the designation? Is that $140,000 to cover the hiring and salary of an information commissioner? Is that to cover the unit?”

“That's not a lot of money to achieve what what seems to be significant objective so I think I think it would be important to understand and have better clarity across the board.”

Successive administrations have promised to implement Freedom of Information legislation but failed to do so, despite advocates warning that prolonged delays in anti-corruption reform amount to avoiding oversight.

Before the 2021 election, the PLP’s Blueprint for Change promised to fully enact the reform, but the party failed to do so in its first term.

The party has again promised to fully implement the FOIA in its second administration.

Mr Aubry urged the government to live up to its promises.

“If you're going to make a promise, it’s really important that we want to establish public trust and understanding how that will come to fruition, what the timeline is, what the clear budget is,” he said. “But if you see in our budget book that the next two years are allocated as $140,000, unless the money is somewhere else that's not specified, it doesn't look as feasible for what needs to happen to bring the act into full force.”