MEMBERS of the public can now have access to the deliberations of the Cabinet during the first 10 years of Jamaica’s Independence as well as those of the Legislative Council for the period 1949 to 1962.

Yesterday Prime Minister P J Patterson formally handed over to Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe, keeper of the records, 154 files of various cabinet documents for storage in the Jamaica Archives and Records Department, where they will be available for public viewing.

The documents are from Cabinets led by National Hero Sir Alexander Bustamante, Jamaica’s first prime minister; Donald Sangster, Hugh Shearer and Michael Manley. The documents released also include periods when National Hero Norman Manley was premier of Jamaica.

The transference of the records from the Cabinet Office to the Archives is in accordance with legislative requirement that Cabinet documents are held confidentially for 30 years before public disclosure, noted Colin Campbell, the information minister.

He said the handing-over ceremony at Jamaica House yesterday was part of the administration’s effort to promote “open government, increased participation and transparency in government”, as demonstrated by the recent passage of the Access to Information Act.

In his remarks, the prime minister noted that the “premature disclosure” of Cabinet documents could put the entire nation at a disadvantage.

“(Indeed) the oath of office (for ministers) obliges us not to disclose information,” he stressed, but added that this was in order to protect the nation and not individual ministers.

“I hope the records (being released) will be a source of scholarship”, added Patterson.

Meanwhile, the chief justice noted the importance of preserving records connected to the nation’s heritage.

“I don’t think,” he said “that as a people we have grasped the importance of record keeping.

“This morning is a great morning because at least, we are coming to realise how important it is to preserve the record of the happenings of our nation.”

Wolfe argued that the access to information had some relationship to the access to justice.

At yesterday’s function Aylair Livingstone, head of the newly formed Access to Information Unit, announced next month as the deadline for ministries to submit action plans and budgets on their proposals for readiness of the Act, possibly, by next year. The information from ministries will be included in a submission to Cabinet by Campbell.

Livingstone also said that her unit was currently preparing information to form the regulations to the information act.