Stronger FOIA Law Proposed After Years of Weak Enforcement

When citizens ask questions of government, the law says they have a right to answers. But for more than thirty years, Belize’s Freedom of Information Act has not always worked that way in practice. Delays, exemptions, and weak enforcement have often stood between the public and the information it seeks. That could soon change. Government is proposing the biggest overhaul of the Act since it became law in 1994, including stronger access provisions, an independent oversight body, and penalties for officials who intentionally conceal records. So, will this reform make government more open, or will the old barriers remain? Tonight, we take a closer look.

 

Paul Lopez, Reporting

Government records live in many places, from digital databases to physical archives. These include official documents, reports, and information collected by public agencies. But if someone wants details on certain government spending, they cannot simply walk in and demand the file.

 

They must submit a formal request under the Freedom of Information Act, and once that request is made, the agency has two weeks to respond.

 

Anthony Sylvester, Attorney General

“I should point out that this is in the issue of Belize, an exciting time because this is the most FOIA requests we have had in history.”

 

After more than a decade in journalism, Hipolito Novelo is no stranger to asking tough questions. Now, he is among a growing number of Belizeans using the Freedom of Information Act to formally request answers from government.

 

 

Hipolito Novelo, Digital Editor, Greater Belize Media

“Everything that has to do with the public purse, every taxpayer’s money, how contracts are awarded, how grants are awarded, that should be public information. So, we should not be asking for those things. It should be out there. There should be a portal. Every ministry should have a portal in terms of accounting and the responsibility to share that information to whoever wants it with the public.”

 

But getting information on government expenditure through a FOIA request is easier said than done. Government agencies can deny access to records they classify as exempt, even when disclosure may serve the public interest. The Ministry of Health and Wellness recently denied Novelo access to information on government expenditure for vaccines during the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

Hipolito Novelo

“I did not get what I asked for, I got some, a bit of information, in terms of how money was spent in Covid and how grant money was spent in Belize for Covid. So that information, the vast of it, I did not get from the Ministry of Health and Wellness.”

 

And he is not alone. In June, Public Service Union President Dean Flowers turned to the Freedom of Information Act, writing to the Auditor General’s office for financial records tied to the Mira Millions and Ministry of Defense procurement scandal. He ran into a stone wall.

 

Dean Flowers, President, Public Service Union

“She refuses, in her response, to say whether she will be going through the Smart Stream system, identify that pattern of payment by financial officers and providing me with that information and the names of those finance officer who engage in those practices.”

 

Social activist Jerry Enriquez also turned to the Freedom of Information Act, seeking answers from the Attorney General’s office on how much taxpayer money has gone toward legal fees in recent constitutional cases. But his request went nowhere.

 

Jeremy Enriquez, Social Activist

“After we requested this information from the attorney general, he denied this information saying that it would in respect compromise the case, but also cost serious risk to the Government of Belize, was somewhat what his response was.”

 

I have also employed the FOIA request on two separate occasions to gather information on government expenditure.

 

File: July 8^th, 2025

Paul Lopez, Reporting

“I am in front of the Ministry of Public Service here in Belmopan and I am about to deliver a Freedom of Information Act to the Minister of Public Service Henry Charles Usher. This is in relation to the government office space rental.”

 

A new reform analysis describes Belize’s current Freedom of Information act as one of the weakest in the Caribbean.  The analysis concluded that penalties are too weak. There is an absence of an independent watchdog over the flow of information to the public. There is no requirement to publish contracts or spending data, and exempted information carried too broad a parameter. These FOIA requests go through the Office of the Attorney General.

 

Anthony Sylvestre

“When a request is made and a particular ministry or authority indicates that it is an exempt document, the process that follows is that you would apply to the Ombudsman, ask for a review of that decision and either party, the government or the statutory body or the authority or the applicant, if they are not satisfied with the decision of the Ombudsman could proceed to the High Court.”

 

As the law now stands, the Ombudsman can review complaints, but cannot make a government agency release the records or hold anyone criminally responsible for refusing. [Graphic 8] So what fixes the problem? One proposal calls for an Information Commission, similar to those in the Cayman Islands and Mexico, with the power to issue binding decisions. Agencies that refuse to comply could face fines of up to one hundred thousand dollars or even prison time. [Graphic 9] The reform also calls for a national open data portal, where government would be required to publish contracts, budgets, asset declarations, and political financing records.

 

Hipolito Novelo

“The minute a minister, a CEO or any high government official, somebody connected to what you want to know, don’t want you to know something, they will block you at every step of the way. You nuh the get that information. Not now, not ever, we are going to court, everything, but you are not getting it and that is unfortunate.”

 

The Freedom of Information Act is more than a legal tool. It is supposed to give Belizeans a clear window into government, from the decisions made behind closed doors to the way public funds are used. Reporting for News Five, I am Paul Lopez.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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