Commissioner of Information Charles Ramson, who was sworn-in last July, is being paid a salary of $1.2 million per month, according to Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who also disclosed yesterday that there have been no applications received yet for information.
Hinds also revealed to the National Assembly that there has been no publication in the Official Gazette and in a daily newspaper of information on public authorities, documents in their possession for inspection and the procedures to be followed when request for access to a document is made, among other things. In a written response to questions by AFC parliamentarian Cathy Hughes in the National Assembly, the Prime Minister said that apart from the commissioner, two members of staff have been employed.
Asked the amounts paid in salary and allowances to the commissioner, Hinds gave the figure as $1,208,517 pm (taxable). Apart from his salary, Ramson also receives an allowance for cell phone calls, he noted.
Ramson is a former Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs as well as a retired Justice of Appeal.
The Freedom of Information Act was passed in September 2011 and has been criticized as flawed.
Thus far, no list of public authorities has been published as required under the law but a preliminary list has been submitted for approval for publication, Hinds wrote in response to Hughes’ question about whether the Commission of Information had published the information as stated under Clause 8 of the Act. He added that responses from several public authorities are being evaluated and, upon due appraisal, will be published in the Official Gazette and a daily newspaper at the earliest.
Clause 8 of the Act provides for the publication of certain documents and information as soon as practicable after the commencement of the law. These include a statement setting out the particulars of the organization, and functions of the public authority, indicating as far as practicable, the decision-making powers and other powers affecting members of the public, among other things; a statement of the categories of documents that are maintained in possession of the public authority; a statement of material prepared for inspection by members of the public; and a statement of the procedure to be followed by a person when a request for access to a document is made.
The Act defines as public authority as the National Assembly inclusive of parliamentary committees subject to the Standing Orders; subject to section 4(2), the Caribbean Court of Justice, the Court of Appeal, the High Court, the Income Tax Board of Review or a court of summary jurisdiction; the Cabinet as constituted under the Constitution; a ministry or a department or division of a ministry; local democratic organs; a regional health authority; a statutory body, responsibility for which is assigned to a minister; a company incorporated under the laws of Guyana which is owned or controlled by the state; a constitutional commission or any other commission established by law; or a body corporate or an unincorporated entity in relation to any function which it exercises on behalf of the state; which is established by or on behalf of the state; or which is supported, directly or indirectly, by government funds and over which government exercises control.
