Friday 31 July 2009

Freedom of Information

I was searching online for some information about British Gas after reading THIS

I stumbled on this website which lead me to something called the freedom of information Act (FOIA) implemented in UK which is something I wish if it could be implemented in Jordan since we badly need it, we need transperancy, we need to inform the public about how the government is operating,and the bases on which people in charge are making decisions. its our right to know.

the FOIA goes like this:

Any person can make a request under the Act - there are no restrictions on your age, nationality, or where you live.

All you have to do is write to (or email) the public authority that you think holds the information you want. You should make sure that you include:

  • your name
  • an address where you can be contacted
  • a description of the information that you want

You don't have to mention the Freedom of Information Act, but there is no reason not to if you want to.

You should try to describe the information you want in as much detail as possible - for example "minutes of the meeting where the decision to do X was made", rather than "everything you have about X". This will help the public authority find the information you need.

Public authorities must comply with your request promptly, and should provide the information to you within 20 working days (around a month). If they need more time, they must write to you and tell you when they will be able to answer your request, and why they need more time


I think Freedom of Information is a prerequisite to Freedom of Speech for we, need the power to request information first. there are many things I wanna see , PLEAAASE

WHY ?

You pay taxes, and then government does things with the money. All sorts of things that affect your life, from healthcare through to national defence. Some it does badly, some it does well. The more we find out about how government works, the better able we are to make suggestions to improve the things that are done badly, and to celebrate the things that are done well.

I think its perfectly doable.

Good Day.

3 comments:

Haitham Seelawi said...

Lets hope that they stop denying and lying then after than we can hope for knowing what they are doing!

No_Angel said...

http://www.menassat.com/?q=en/news-articles/4586-jordan-s-freedom-information-act-any-takers

already in place but not working ... read that

Tala said...

Genki Dama,
we should not hope, we should easily see it happening

No Angel,
I didn't know there is a written law! found the script, where is the portal for placing a request?