Tag: FOI
Four development deals still secret
(CNS): Government signed at least four non-disclosure agreements with developers for major projects over the last administration in which duty or fees have been waived. But voters will not get to see what revenue has been forfeited, for what reason and who benefits, at least not before the elections. CNS made a freedom of information […]
FOI requests fall to lowest level
(CNS): Whether it is because government has made more documents available or because the process of making a freedom of information request is increasingly burdensome, the number of requests made for public records last year fell to its lowest ever level. From a high of 739 the year after the law was implemented, requests fell […]
Smith Cove committee kept no records
(CNS): A freedom of information request made by a CNS reader has revealed that the committee created to inform what would have been a very costly public project at Smith Barcadere (aka Smith Cove) kept no records. The applicant asked to see documents relating to the creation and membership of the committee, the agendas and […]
Gov’t lawyers misuse FOI law
(CNS): The ombudsman has ordered the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) to disclose the identity of the person who wrote an important report relating to a complaint by an applicant when she was a minor. In her latest appeal decision, Sandy Hermiston found, for several reasons, that the government lawyers wrongly refused […]
FOI request takes over a year
(CNS): In August 2018 CNS made a freedom on information request to the commerce ministry for a copy of a deal it had signed with TechCayman, a proposed digital platform that the ministry claimed would make Cayman the ‘Silicon Valley’ of the Caribbean. But when the ministry responded it released a very heavily redacted copy. […]
Immigration ignores FOI requests
(CNS): The Department of Immigration (DoI) has admitted that a shortage of resources and its transition into two new agencies, the Customs and Border Control Agency and Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman, left it unable to manage freedom of information requests. The Office of the Ombudsman, which deals with appeals relating to troublesome requests, found […]
CIG given almost 3,000 free ads for port promotion
(CNS): Radio Cayman has confirmed that the government received almost 3,000 free advertisements on the publicly-owned station between early October and the end of December. Responding to a freedom of information request from Opposition Leader Ezzard Miller, the information manager said the station broadcast the public service announcements on behalf of the tourism ministry for […]
Transport unit dodges FOI with poor records
(CNS): The ombudsman has let the Public Transportation Unit (PTU) off the hook over a refused freedom of information request because of its poor record keeping. In Sandy Hermiston’s latest decision regarding an applicant’s appeal over a denied public records request, she has upheld the PTU’s refusal because trying to compile the statistics asked for would […]
FOI exemptions grow, data protection delayed
(CNS): Changes to the Freedom of Information Law passed in the Legislative Assembly earlier this month, without the support of the opposition, will see further areas of legal exemption added to government documents and allow ministers more input in decisions on whether or not to grant applications. Changes to the law largely refer to records […]
Minister refuses to reveal more of tech hub deal
(CNS): The minister of commerce has declined to reveal any more of the very heavily redacted deal he signed with TechCayman because, he said, it was a confidential agreement. After CNS received a largely blacked-out document in response to a freedom of information request, we requested an internal review. However, in response to that Minister Joseph […]
Complaints reveal chaos in bus sector
(CNS): Documents released by the tourism ministry detailing hundreds of reported complaints made about bus and taxi drivers throughout 2017 paint a picture of chaos within the Cayman Islands Public Transport Unit. From drivers falling asleep at the wheel and crashing while carrying visitors to fighting and squabbling over poaching passengers, many of the men […]
