by Linda Straker
- Object of Bill is to enhance constitutionally guaranteed rights to privacy
- Bill scheduled to be debated and approved during 6 April Senate sitting
- Opposition voted against changes
Senator Claudette Joseph, Attorney General and Legal Affairs minister, said that changes made to the Data Protection Bill during the Committee stage of the Lower House of Parliament on 14 March 2023 “was not necessary” but were made so Government “might show transparency.”
“In the House at the Committee stage…some further changes were made, and I will be frank with you, the changes that were made in the House were not necessary. They were made in the spirit of compromise so that we might show transparency and that we are not intending to pull anything on anyone,” she said during an interview on Sunday, 2 April 2023, with Dr Kellon Bubb. “In fact, the object of the bill is to enhance the constitutionally guaranteed rights to privacy,” she added.
Several changes were made during the second stage of the reading and debate of the Bill. After consultation with the Leader of the Opposition and the Minister for National Security, the members agreed to the Governor General having the power to name the Information Commission, instead of the Minister for National Security, as in the original version.
Opposition Leader Dr Keith Mitchell described the changes as cosmetic. “These are, in my view, cosmetic amendments because the substance remains,” he said during a news conference held after the Government’s 9 members of the Lower House voted yes to the Bill. One opposition member was absent from the sitting, but the 5 members present voted no, or against the approval.
The Data Protection Bill is scheduled to be debated and approved during the 6 April sitting of the Upper House or Senate. Once the Senators approve and the Governor General approves, the Bill will be published in the Government Gazette.
Further, the Cabinet will also have to publish the regulation for the enforcement of the Bill, and then publish an order with the date of effect for it to become law.
This is more noise than anything else. There more important legislation that sadly lacking in Grenada. Explain to the people, how money intended for the government coffers can be directed to private accounts. Why this practice not criminal?