Central Bank exempt from FOI Act

The Central Bank need not answer queries about its operations asked under the Freedom of Information Act. The House of Representatives last Wednesday night rejected by 17 votes to ten votes, a motion by Siparia MP, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, seeking to cancel an order exempting the Bank from the Act, laid by the Government in the House last April. She dubbed as “total nonsense” the reasons for the exemption, earlier given by Junior Minister of Finance, Conrad Enill.

Hitting the Government, she said the Act in Section 30 already exempted documents relating to the privacy of an individual. Moreso, Section 34 exempted any document already protected from disclosure by an existing law. Persad-Bissessar charged: “This Government seeks to hide information. Everything for the PNM is top secret.” By way of example, she said the Government had refused to give answers about recent controversies including Labidco, the release of two Bajan fishermen, payments to WASA CEO Errol Grimes, and cocaine found in diplomatic pouches. “The PNM used to wait for things to blow over, but now we have a more enlightened citizenry, in an information age.”  Saluting the media, she said controversies were no longer just dying away, to the chagrin of the Government.

“So what do they do? They come to Parliament to legitimate secrecy. The Government is seeking to make lawful what is not lawful.” She said that while a court was due to rule whether the Central Bank was obliged under the Act to answer Maha Sabha’s queries about its director, Dr Selwyn Cudjoe, the Government was quickly trying to change the law to exempt the bank.  She said the Government had recently done likewise in bringing amendments to the Telecommunications Act and the Extradition Act. “It is a contempt for the Judiciary and the courts of this land, that while matters are before the court the Government will legislate to change the law.” In reply, Minister of Trade, Ken Valley, said the Central Bank was exempted from the Freedom of Information Act by Section 5 of the Central Bank Act. The exemption order, he assured, was simply to make “doubly sure” of this exclusion. Valley said the US Federal Reserve and Central Bank of Ireland both had certain exemptions from their national Freedom of Information Acts.

But Persad-Bissessar interjected: “But the whole bank isn’t exempt!” Pointing to former Minister of Finance Gerald Yetming and former Governor of the Central Bank, Winston Dookeran, Valley scoffed that the duo had been conspicuously silent in this debate. Trying to show the Government had nothing to hide, Valley gave figures for funding variously for Emancipation Day and for Divali/Indian Arrival Day. He downplayed the appointment of Selwyn Cudjoe to the bank, saying: “All Dr Cudjoe is getting is what any other director is entitled to.” He quipped: “All this would be solved maybe if we just put Sat Maharaj on the Board of the Central Bank. Too much time is being spent on this race thing.”