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A new bill is at present being debated in parliament that will allow greater access to public records, a long-standing demand of the union of journalists that has fallen on deaf ears.
Although the new piece of legislation seems to be by far a great improvement over the current norm of almost no access, there are still some aspects of the new law that seem to regulate what is considered available to the public view, and hence accessible, hindering the work of investigators.
This makes one wonder whether politicians are indeed in favour of allowing public access to such information, especially by the media that has a duty to the taxpayers to act as a watchdog of the government’s actions and its employees’ activities.
One would think that such a relaxation would also help the Auditor General’s work, as the media would have the liberty to probe public information, the exception being matters of national security.
But the new bill, that according to Attorney General Costas Clerides “will contribute to enhance transparency, as well as control of the activities of the administration”, has some limitations, which in the words of the journalists’ union misses the sprit of the law, not just the letter. It would seem that the clauses that prevent access are more than those that allow access, which defeats the whole purpose of transparency.
What is clearly a setback in the new law is the establishment of an Information Commissioner, in other words a sentry who will judge what is accessible and what not.
This is a ridiculous amendment that places more doubt whether public officials, senior civil servants and politicians want media or other investigators snooping around public records.
The same law also plan to introduce a fee for access to public records, that could be prohibitive depending on the amount, thus, once again, defeating the purpose of access to information.
At the end of the day the new bill will not help much, but will continue to help provide cover to corrupt officials who do not want their financial and other activities investigated.
A shame, really…
