Gail Alexander
Senior Political Reporter
While Planning Minister Kennedy Swaratsingh says the Government’s Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2026 does not abolish state agency publications in newspapers, former Prime Minister Stuart Young SC says the bill is a clear sign that the UNC Government intends publishing in newspapers “less and less.”
Both spoke in the House of Representatives yesterday on the bill.
It seeks to remove the requirement for the publication in a daily newspaper circulating in Trinidad and Tobago of a public authority’s annual public statements, replacing it with a requirement for those statements to be published either in a daily newspaper or on a publicly accessible website.
The bill was passed without the amendments submitted by the PNM. Those amendments were rejected by Government.
Swaratsingh said the bill advances transparency and accountability by the State, as well as equality of access, empowerment and increased public participation.
He said it was intended to update, streamline and expand publication requirements, adding that website publication would ensure public records could not be withheld because an agency may not have the resources or funding to publish documents in a newspaper.
He also said websites could reduce the administrative burden and potentially lower the cost associated with repeated newspaper publication. He noted that the law provided for disclosure promptly and at the “lowest reasonable cost.”
But Swaratsingh rejected the suggestion that Government was replacing newspapers with online publication.
“To ease some of the concerns raised in previous discussions, persons who don’t have access to the technology still have the option of the print media via the TT Gazette or a local newspaper. We’re merely widening the channels—not disposing of one medium for another,” he said.
“Public authorities would still be required to publish information in the Gazette, while the second method of publication could either be a daily newspaper or a publicly accessible website....This Bill doesn’t abolish newspaper publication. It doesn’t remove requirement for publication in the Gazette, or prohibit a public authority from continuing to use newspapers but proposes an additional medium for fulfilling statutory publication requirements.”
Swaratsingh said newspaper and website publication served different functions and Government should not dismiss the value of newspapers as a means of public communication.
Newspapers will be affected — Young
Young said while the bill appeared innocuous, it was not.
While the PNM was not against digitisation, he said different age groups accessed information through different means, noting that many older people still read newspapers while some younger people may not.
However, he pointed out that newspapers are not confined to print and also publish online.
“Let’s not fool ourselves—the government brought this piece of legislation and have chosen ‘or’ instead of ‘and’ in the bill’s clauses because they intend to use the newspapers less and less and to publish less and less in them. Because if they had said ‘and’ in the bill, it would have maintained that status quo and also allow the publication on websites,” Young said.
He rejected Swaratsingh’s assertion that people would still have access to both the Gazette and newspapers.
“That will only exist if you use the word ‘and’. Because if you choose to go the route of website and Gazette as this bill allows, what access to newspapers you talking about?!”
Young said the claim that the bill “doesn’t abolish newspaper publication” sounded nice, but effectively made newspaper publication optional rather than mandatory.
Saying many public bodies do not even publish procurement plans, Young questioned whether agencies’ information would be kept up to date.
Noting that the Energy Ministry’s production information stopped at March, he cited the internet’s limitations.
Young also pointed to Government’s failure to hold post-Cabinet media conferences, saying Government should not try “fooling us by talking about broadening access to information.”
He expressed concern about state websites being manipulated or changed to remove information that may be embarrassing to the Government. Young said PNM achievements had been removed from some state websites.
