Dear Editor,
A Guyanese proverb states, “Is when yuh own bug bite yuh.Yuh does feel it moh”. This thought filled my mind with some shock and, at the same time, a large measure of relief when I read Sherwood Lowe’s contribution to the Woolford/Nascimento/Vieira contretemps in the Stabroek News letters’ column of the 21st January 2020.
Belatedly poignant and relevant to my Office created by the Access to Information Act 2011,the contents of his letter are merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Given the likely effect of climate change in the political sense, this extensive regime of access to information which has been a four-year battle by yours truly in the Courts of Guyana will see the true flood of information for which provision is made in the Act. So far, I have fought single-handedly against the misinformation peddled by some illequipped columnists, the Attorney-General, the Prime Minister and the constitutionally ineligible Minister of State in the Ministry of the Presidency. Court Orders have been issued against the Government but I am yet to receive the benefits of these judgments .The fourth Action is nearing conclusion. Suffice it to say my salaries and benefits have been withheld for more than 18 months. It is clear to me that the Government ‘s agenda is to prevent the public from seeking, via my office, the information to which they are duly entitled under the Act of 2011.
I have gone to great lengths to enlighten the public in general and the bureaucrats in particular, by holding lectures, giving interviews to SN and Television Stations, to no avail. Additionally, the Bar Association has seen it fit to publish a comprehensive discourse following a presentation I gave at the National Library in September 2017, and an earlier analysis is contained in my second book “A Portrait in Justice, Liberty and Equality” published and printed exclusively at my expense and distributed free of charge.
The public has to be blind and deaf not to see and hear this Government’s agenda to stifle transparency and accountability, the twin pillars of the purpose behind the 2011 Act . So I thank Sherwood Lowe for his intervention. Be advised: good governance could only be achieved if we look “beyond we own mattee”!
Yours faithfully,
Justice Charles . R . Ramson
S.C.O .R Commissioner of
Information
