(PINA/IFEX) – The Fiji Islands public is being invited to make submissions on a new Official Information Act. It will replace the Official Secrets Act inherited from the British colonial administration which governed before independence in 1970. Submissions close with the secretary-general to parliament on 31 January 1999. At a Fiji Media Council meeting on […]
(PINA/IFEX) – The Fiji Islands public is being invited to make submissions
on a new Official Information Act. It will replace the Official Secrets Act
inherited from the British colonial administration which governed before
independence in 1970. Submissions close with the secretary-general to
parliament on 31 January 1999. At a Fiji Media Council meeting on 21
December 1998, the country’s newspapers, magazines, radio and television
stations decided they would each make their own submissions.
**Updates IFEX alerts of 25 August, 10 August, 5 June and 30 January 1998**
The proposed freedom of information laws will cover almost all government
ministries, departments and offices. Exceptions are the indigenous-Fijian
Bose Levu Vakaturaga (council of chiefs), the President and his office,
government-owned businesses, the court system, commissions of inquiry, and
the Fiji Intelligence Service.
Assistant Minister for Information Ratu Josefa Dimuri was quoted by “The
Fiji Times” as telling a meeting of government media liaison officers: “Our
people have the right of access to public information.” He said its release
and use were part of the development process. Under the Official Secrets
Act, public information was restricted and public servants sometimes risked
reprisal by releasing information in the public interest, he said. When the
new act comes in, they will be able to release information under the
protection of the new laws.
The replacement of the Official Secrets Act with the Official Information
Act was one of the recommendations by consultants from Britain’s Thomson
Foundation. They reviewed all Fiji Islands media legislation in 1996 at the
request of the government. Their principle recommendations were adopted by
the Cabinet (government ministers) in January.
