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Applause for the Sunshine Project
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Posted on May 03 2009
On April 27, 2009, the Saipan Tribune published an article titled, “Nearly half of NMI govt agencies flunk OGA test.” In this article, employees of the Saipan Tribune conducted a test survey to find out which CNMI government agencies will comply with the Open Government Act. I applaud their efforts made during this test and I am pleased with their findings.
According to the article, “of the 27 major government agencies tested, only 12 provided the document within 10 days allowed under the Act.” The document to be obtained was the FY 2009 budget, and four agencies were able to provide it within hours, these agencies being the Northern Marianas College, the Governor’s Office, the Commonwealth Development Authority, and the CNMI Judiciary. There were other agencies that provided the document within the required 10-day period. Good job, guys! The other agencies that flunked the test did not only flunk, but broke the law as well. The article also mentions what happened when the employees requested the document from the agencies that failed to provide it. They underwent questioning, were asked to provide a formal request letter, and were told that permission must be given before giving out any documents. Others were given the “runaround”, going back and forth to different offices and coming back empty-handed. Public Law 8-41 does not require a person to give his/her name and affiliation before obtaining documents, although these questions were insisted on.
My question is: What is wrong with giving out documents? Our right to obtain them are protected by law, so what is the problem here? It seems to me that they are not aware of their wrongdoing or they just have their own reasons for not releasing documents. Do the agencies have something to hide? Are they afraid somehow? I see no harm in this. The people of the CNMI deserve to know what is going on within our government, and through the OGA we are able to participate in it. So participate everyone and take advantage of the OGA!
[B]
Rosanna Camacho[/B]
[I]San Vicente, Saipan[/I]
