Today The Royal Gazette launches a campaign to throw open the doors of Government and publicly-funded groups to give the people of Bermuda access to information that shapes their lives.

A Right to Know: Giving People Power is all about helping the people of Bermuda find out what Government and other publicly funded bodies are doing on your behalf and how they are spending your tax dollars.

Already we have pledges of support from around the Island and the world, with former Progressive Labour Party Premier Alex Scott one of the first on board. He said: "This is not an anti-government exercise. It's a pro-democracy vehicle for the public that we serve."

A Right to Know calls for Premier Dr. Ewart Brown and his Government to return plans first introduced in 2003 by Mr. Scott for public access to information (PATI) to the top of the PLP's agenda.

This newspaper has asked to see a commitment in this year's Throne Speech — due to be delivered on February 1 — to table a PATI bill in the House of Assembly this year.

We are also urging Government — on your behalf — to agree to open up to the public all quangos, boards and other publicly-funded bodies, including the Corporation of Hamilton, which has a $20 million annual budget and recently decided in secret to evict Bermuda Society of Arts from City Hall.

There are more than 100 such entities in Bermuda spending millions of dollars of taxpayers' money and all hold their meetings behind closed doors, with a only a couple releasing minutes to the public.

The Royal Gazette believes that anyone should be allowed to attend these meetings if they wish and that minutes detailing what happens during them and the decisions taken which affect the people of Bermuda should be made publicly available.

The final aim of A Right to Know is to persuade Government and other bodies that are paid for by the taxpayer to answer questions about their activities unless they have sound and irrefutable reasons not to, such as for national security purposes.

Mr. Scott told this newspaper that Bermuda was ready for a public access to or freedom of information (FOI) law and a more open government — just like more than 70 countries around the world, including Cayman, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, the UK, Canada, the US and Ireland.

And he so strongly backs the idea that he has pledged to place a bill before Parliament himself if there is enough support for this campaign.

"It certainly is an idea whose time has come," he said. "I hope that we do move on ahead with some form of freedom of information or PATI. I hope it's something that there is little or no resistance to.

"It's a case of cooperation and communication between the Government and the public it serves. I can't repeat that too often. That's why we had an Ombudsman. It's all part and parcel of putting the rights of the public in the hands of a structure so that, no matter who the government is, the public's interests and rights are served."

He urged his fellow party members to give their backing too. "We were elected and now re-elected to provide our community with the best possible terms of reference for governance and democracy and I can't put too much weight on how important PATI is."

Other community members supporting transparency include Anglican Bishop Ewan Ratteray, Bermuda National Trust director Jennifer Gray, teachers' union leader Mike Charles, former Opposition UBP leader Grant Gibbons, columnist and journalist Tom Vesey, lawyer Tim Marshall, environmentalist Stuart Hayward, businessmen Stephen Davidson and Nalton Brangman and US Consul Gregory Slayton.

Mr. Slayton said the US's FOI laws had "made a big difference in various obvious ways".

"I'm all in favour of that for all citizens," he said. "There are some times when people tie up huge amounts of Government resources with requests, so you have to be careful. The general idea is clearly very, very positive: to make Government accountable and responsible to citizens and taxpayers. Who can argue with that?"

Mr. Marshall said: "Freedom of information laws reflect an open society. It is a win-win situation for everyone."

Ms Gray said: "As an NGO, and specifically as to it relates to our role in advocacy, access to information is a vital tool which better enables us to undertake our role efficiently and effectively."

Mr. Vesey said FOI could help unite Bermuda's divided society. "In Bermuda everybody is suspicious of each other. There is no way you can overcome those suspicions unless all your doors are open."

Bishop Ratteray said: "I believe that anyone in a position of trust, be it Government or elsewhere, needs to exhibit at all times an attitude that they are accountable for all the actions which they take."

Dr. Gibbons, whose party included FOI in its recent election manifesto, agreed. "Transparency makes sure Government departments are spending money in the way it is intended to be spent," he said. "It provides a deterrent."

Mr. Davidson, vice president of an Internet security company, said: "It's a positive thing for Bermuda to be considering. I think it's great that the Gazette is willing to raise the issue."

Khalid Wasi, of the All Bermuda Congress, who has campaigned for open government, said: "I believe in freedom of the press, freedom of information.

"You need to have freedom for different groups to go and talk about issues. Base it on statistics. At the end of the day, that should help Government."

Mr. Hayward pointed out an example of how everyone is affected by a lack of transparency:

"Perhaps the most pressing issue affecting everyone is the state of the education system. However, virtually nothing is known by the public about the steps of reform, timetables for those steps and progress being made."

International organisations have also welcomed our campaign. Carole Excell, the Cayman Island's FOI coordinator, said: "FOI is important to make Government more accountable and responsive to its public. Good luck in your campaign."

The National Freedom of Information Coalition (NFOIC) in the US is behind us, as is the Carter Center — the human rights organisation founded by former American President Jimmy Carter which helped Jamaica implement its PATI law.

Charles Davis, from NFOIC, said he had witnessed other small countries successfully bring in FOI. He said: "You have got a great case for reform here. In a small country a lot can happen with nobody knowing about it. The default is almost to be secretive. I think this is an excellent case for a new FOI law."

The Royal Gazette asked Dr. Brown for a comment last week, but we were issued with a statement from a Cabinet Office spokesman, which said the Premier had "moved the discussion down the path toward formal legislation", although no one was available to tell us how far down that path discussions had actually gone.

The spokesman said: "Public Access to Information (PATI) legislation is on the agenda of this Government. It would be inaccurate to say otherwise.

He said research into PATi was first undertaken under Premier Dame Jennifer Smith and was continued under Mr. Scott.

Under Dr. Brown, steps towards formal legislation were being undertaken, he said.

"It always takes a significant amount of time to draft new legislation and PATI legislation is even more laborious than most because it's such a comprehensive task. Nonetheless, the process of making it a reality is happening consistently and without fanfare ¿ alongside a litany of other government business.

"The people of Bermuda have shown a desire for greater access to information and because they are the ones we serve, we have been committed to this effort since the day it was launched."

Dr. Brown said before the December 18 election: "I support legislation which grants the public the right to access public information.

"Our record will show that PATI legislation is something we have previously examined and we plan to keep it in play during our next term."

The most important support we can get is from you. We want to hear about your attempts to gain information which you believe you have a right to be given — both your failures and your successes.

E-mail arighttoknow@royalgazette.bm, write a letter to the editor or call us on 278-0155 or 278-8359 to share your stories or let us know what you think of the campaign.