Yesterday we told you all about the National Cyber Security Symposium. The government has assumed the role of what it calls, the "Principal Gatekeeper Of State Information" and committed itself to, quote, Digital Government Service Delivery. And while that sounds all so hifalutin' as if its coming through some special "hole in the air", what about just plain old Cabinet briefings or regular information on government spending and collection from the Ministry of Finance? The Musa Administration was forced to do that in September 2005 - when it was in a precarious fiscal position. The Barrow Administration has walked back from those practices - and, 10 years on, it looks as if they may never return. We asked Deputy Prime Minister Faber to explain why:...
Jules Vasquez, 7News
"If one looks at the last years of the Musa administration, the level of transparency that they had to provide because the multilaterals were coming down on them, in terms of quarterly disclosure of the government's financials, in terms of the operation and functionality of the government press office website, we have actually gone backwards since then. We still don't have quarterly financials from the Ministry of Finance as we previously did 10 years ago under the Musa administration."
Hon. Patrick Faber, Minister of Education
"Well you are saying all of these things Mr. Vasquez, I don't know that we are moving backwards. Maybe there are some instances where things that were put in place did go back, but it is not out of any intention of the government not to be transparent. It is not out of any intention of the government not to advance ourselves in e-government either. We, as I've said, outline in a very detailed way this morning the advances that we've made in terms of e-government act. You've seen moves made in the lands ministry, you've seen moves made in our ministry of education, you've seen it made in finance as well - the collection of GST and all of these areas. So, we have made advances and we are hoping that we can make more advances with the support of the wider population."
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