Dear Editor,
In 2016, following the decision by the PNM government to discontinue legal action against Malcolm Jones regarding the mismanagement and possible corruption in Petrotrin, my attorneys led by Anand Ramlogan SC filed a FOIA request for witness statements of a previous adjudication of which Petrotrin was a party, which may have shed light on the entire matter. Petrotrin refused to release the documents which caused me to file a Judicial Review of the Matter that was eventually ruled upon by the Privy Council in 2019 as the final Court of Appeal. In the ruling handed down by Lords Wilson, Hodge, Kitchin, Sales and Lady Arden they agreed that a FOIA request was not unreasonable based on the limbs of the legislation, and went on to state frankly that:
“… it appears to the Board that as the available evidence stands at the moment, there are some grounds for thinking that the decision to abandon the claim against Mr Jones may have been influenced by political factors… And, of course, Petrotrin and the Attorney General may be able to dispel any concerns by evidence they may file in answer to Mr Maharaj’s claim. But if they do not, the public interest in having disclosure of the Baptiste and Chan Tack statements in the interests of transparency and securing accountability of government and public authorities might be thought to be increased.”
Despite whatever the Minister of Finance believes or stated in Parliament during the recent meeting of the Standing Finance Committee, a FOIA request is not in and of itself a political act, nor can it be considered to be anything other than politically neutral. The reason for filing a FOIA request is simply to acquire information from the government and other State-owned bodies regarding the conduct of affairs. If this information serves the purpose of any criticism or indictment of a government, this has nothing to do with the FOIA request or information provided, as the purpose it serves is merely as a tool by which the general public can hold the government to account as they manage the affairs of the State and citizens who pay their salaries through taxes.
No matter how much the current administration might want to believe this, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago is not an appendage or an extension of the PNM party. With few exceptions that are well-defined in the Freedom of Information Act, the government is meant to operate in a manner that is transparent and accountable to the people that elected them, and the fact that the PNM has resisted this and continues to use TAXPAYER DOLLARS to hire lawyers that do not thing but protect the government from the scrutiny that is the LEGAL RIGHT of each and every citizen of this country is an abuse of power and waste of money that could and should be used to benefit the nation at large.
The reason that I brought up the landmark Petrotrin decision is that in the immediate aftermath of this decision, the Prime Minister seemed to understand this as he stated that the government would reevaluate how they handled FOIA requests moving forward, by stating that all requests for information would be directed to the Office of the Attorney General who would in turn ensure that these matters would not have to go court to be resolved. It appears that Dr. Rowley was only paying lip service at the time to save face after the embarrassment of the Privy Council ruling and had no intention of making good on this promise.
Through the brilliance of Anand Ramlogan and his legal team, I am proud to have been a part of expanding the definition of the law in FOIA applications even though it is frustrating that the government continues to wage a battle on this front at every opportunity. In the past years, we have been able to compel agencies such as the TTPS to merely comply with the legislation in publishing information, as well as to redefine which organizations are obligated to operate under this legislation, such as TSTT. The fact of the matter remains that no government should be working this hard and spending so much money to suppress information from the public, so much that it borders on self-censorship, but thankfully through the independence of the Judiciary, there is some level of relief. But hopefully, the day will come when the government simply adheres to the law and complies with this important piece of legislation that is meant to guide them.