Right To Know Day, 62 PATI Requests Logged

September 28, 2015

The Premier and National Security Minister, Michael Dunkley today expressed his pleasure in Bermuda’s Right to Know Day, organized by the Office of the Information Commissioner, and also said that 28 public authorities directly under the control of the Government have logged a total of 62 requests into the internal tracking system.

September 28th, marks the first time that Bermuda will join more than 90 other jurisdictions around the world that have freedom of information laws in place.

Ms. Gitanjali Guttierez, who was appointed in March 2015 as Bermuda’s first Information Commissioner, and her staff, Assistant Information Commissioner Mr. Jason Outerbridge and Mr. Hector Watson, designed and executed the Bermuda Right to Know Day and Week, which ensures that members of the Bermudian public not only know, but also understand their rights under the PATI legislation.

Premier Dunkley said, “I am extremely pleased that we are holding Bermuda’s Right to Know Day, which has been organized by the Office of the Information Commissioner.”

“Public Access to Information, or PATI, was enacted on 1st April 2015. We are now closing in on six 6 months since that date, and I am delighted that Bermudians and residents of Bermuda have taken advantage of their new found right to request and receive records.”

“PATI promotes openness and transparency and public authorities are working to ensure that the records and information they keep are made available to the public as a matter of course. Some records may be subject to one of the exemptions listed in the Act and thus cannot be released.”

The Premier continued, “Not unexpectedly, because PATI is relatively new, one of the questions I am often asked as the Minister responsible is about numbers. More specifically, people want to know about the number of requests received.

“Approximately 200 public authorities are subject to PATI. Most, but not all, of this number fall of public authorities fall directly under the control of a particular Ministry or Department.

“Twenty-eight public authorities directly under the control of the Government have logged a total of 62 requests into our internal tracking system. It is clear from the numbers that some public authorities have received multiple requests while others have not yet had any.”

“More precise numbers will be available once all public authorities make their end of year reports to the Information Commissioner.”

“As the country’s leader, I am proud that Bermuda has embraced PATI. We have listened, we have heeded the demand to make PATI a reality and we continue to make amendments, as you will see during the upcoming parliamentary session, that are designed to make PATI even more operate more efficiently in Bermuda.”

“I would like to thank the Information Commissioner and her staff for organizing activities highlighting Bermuda’s Right to Know Day and Week and for providing a meaningful platform to allow Bermudians and Bermuda residents to understand how they too can play a role in raising the level of accountability of this Government.”

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Comments (11)

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  1. Coffee says:

    In the spirit of transperancy , why are we no closer to knowing exactly how history was made in Bermuda ? Yup , you know where I’m going with this …… Why did Craig Cannonier resign in disgrace from the Premiership of Bermuda ?

    • Toodle-oo says:

      If you refuse to understand something that been spoon fed to you repeatedly , well , that’s on you . Not the rest of us .

      And the rest of us are awaiting explanations on why there wasn’t many resignations between 1998 ad 2012 .

      • Coffee says:

        Why did Thad Hollis resign after learning the sordid details . Remember Thad , the OBA chairman , the lawyer ?

        • Zevon says:

          Why did Roban resign as a PLP minister? Can you remind us?
          And why didn’t Zane and Furbert resign at the same time?

          • hmph says:

            uhh.. deflect one issue with another issue…do you see what you just did?

            Exactly why our political situation is in the gutter. Half of the people blaming the other side…

    • Onion juice says:

      Do we have the Right to know about Jet Gate, or just blowing smoke up de @$$.

  2. No Longer A Member says:

    I would like to know who are the idiots that brought this hate monger to Bermuda. Another sad day for the party of hate along with all their supporters. Where will they find the funding and recourses that this country requires if the people that they hate so much was to eventually leave. Where is PATI and the Communication Board when it comes to hate on these radio stations.

    • Onion juice says:

      Now you know what my Grandfather had to go through on a daily basis.
      Not a good feeling is it?

      • Fed Up Bermudian says:

        Okay, but does that make it right? How does your grandfather feel about that? Is he supportive of keeping division alive and well in the community, or would he be more in favor of a place where all were equal?

  3. mj says:

    the right to know why a speaker was put on the stop list for giving historical information that was not inciteful and more illuminating than what we receive..seems pati still decides who gets to receive information and seems like we still don’t have freedom of speech.. people are still afraid of words when words were used to enslave people and continue to do so today.. The Bible is full of inciteful commentary and the same people that promoted its use are diabolically in opposition to it. Are we children that we don’t know how to discern words, i certainly feel like people need to grow up because the future will be gloomy if we continue in this manner of stopping people from coming to this island whilst others are allowed to kill with a thousand cuts, so sweet are their words that softly kill smh. Mr. FaHEY CANNOT STOP PEOPLE FROM READING books and learning from other tools.. the information is still available.