Commissioner of Information sends APNU+AFC lawmaker to Office of the President for salaries of election inquiry commissioners

Last Updated on Saturday, 24 September 2022, 9:04 by Denis Chabrol

Commissioner of Information Retired Justice Charles Ramson has refused to in the first instance entertain a request by an opposition parliamentarian for the salaries to be paid to the three Commissioners who have been appointed to investigate the March 2020 general and regional elections.

While the Access to Information Act, which governs the Commissioner of Information, provides for requests to be made to him in keeping with the stipulated schedule or on the Commissioner of Information’s website or by other electronic means, Mr Ramson has told A Partnership for National Unity+Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) legislator Ganesh Mahipaul that he has to ask the Office of the President directly and if he does not get it, can return to the Office of the Commissioner of Information.

“Should you be denied it or are satisfied with their response, on grounds inconsistent with the aforesaid Act, you may be entitled to secure the assistance of this office, free of charge,” Mr Ramson said in an undated response to Mr Mahipaul’s letter dated 18th September.

Mr Mahipaul said he would ask  a lawyer to tell what should be his next move. “I will be seeking legal advise on how to proceed. I will not rest this matter until the information is made public,” he told Demerara Waves Online News.

The opposition lawmaker wants to know the salaries and other benefits of the commissioners- Retired Justices Stanley John, Carl Singh and High Court Judge Godfrey P. Smith as well as Dr. Afari Gyan and Dr Nasim Zaidi and Guyana Defence Force Colonel Ronald Hercules.

The Commissioner of Information is, however, relying on a provision of the Access to Information Act that “the Commissioner of Information shall be a “clearing house for processing requests.” In his response to Mr Mahipaul, he said “firstly, the Access to Information Act 2011 contemplates that this office is designed as a “Clearing House”, not a “Warehouse” or, in Guyanese investment jargon “One-Stop Shop”.

The APNU+AFC parliamentarian indicated that he was disgusted at Mr Ramson’s response. It is most unfortunate that the Commissioner of Information who receives a ‘fat cat’ salary would pen such a response to a request which should be facilitated by his office. One can only conclude that taxpayers money is being wasted on that office and I am now forced to believe that indeed $700M of taxpayers money will be spent on salaries and benefits for the five persons over a 6 months period as was told to me by a source from Office of the President,” he said.

He concluded that the information about the salaries of the Commissioners 0f Inquiry and support staff are “top secret, well protected and highly guarded information.”