JFJ challenges students to demand more from gov’t

Friday, July 01, 2011

JAMAICA'S youngest and brightest have been challenged to lead the way in changing the culture of government withholding information from the public.

Dr Carolyn Gomes, chairman of Jamaicans for Justice, made the charge at Tuesday's ceremony to recognise three students for their performance in an essay competition staged by the Access to Information (ATI) Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister.

The competition was part of efforts to spread awareness of the rights of citizens to access official documents through the ATI Act (2002).

Dr Gomes, who chairs the Access to Information Advisory Stakeholder Committee (ATISC), challenged the young people to lead the way in informing others about the ATI Act and demanding information from the Government.

She said Government decisions often become a source of conflict because the information on which decisions are made is not made available to the citizens.

"You can't hope to make sensible choices if you don't know what you are talking about. It's going to be conflict if we don't have a way to share the same information and with that information chart a course forward," she stated.

Dr Gomes noted that for older generations, access to information was difficult in that one had to visit a library or a government office, unlike the present generation which accesses information instantly through traditional media, cable TV or the Internet.

Damian Cox, director of the ATI Unit, stressed that official documents were held in trust by the Government on behalf of the public.

He added that for the Vision 2030 development plan to be successful, Jamaica must have a transparent system of government underpinned by accountability.

"It's about how we conduct our business and also how the state conducts its business with us as well," he stated.

Third to sixth form students from 30 high schools were invited to write on the topic: "The right to access to official government documents granted to members of the public by the Access to information Act (2002) strengthens our democratic system of government. Discuss."

First place went to Malike Kellier, formerly of Cornwall College and now a first-year law student of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona.

Second place went to Claudia Landley, the head girl-elect of Holy Childhood High School while third went to Kerry Ann Battick, formerly of St Andrew High School and presently a first-year student of UWI Mona studying psychology.

"In a democracy it is your right to have access to certain documents, especially those that are published by the government", Kellier said while accepting his prize.

He said knowledge of the ATI Act assisted him in finding important documents for his studies.

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JFJ challenges students to demand more from gov’t