Several Years and Counting, Information Commissioner Still Has No Office — PM Announces Another Six-Month Delay

Antigua and Barbuda's Information Commissioner, Anthony Athill, remains without an operational office nearly two years after his appointment — and the nation has just been told to wait another six months, in what the Opposition is describing as a perpetual delay that is strangling the Freedom of Information Act from functioning as intended

Still No Office, Still No Date

The issue was raised during Prime Minister's Questions in Parliament on Tuesday, June 16, when Opposition Leader MP Jamale Pringle asked Prime Minister Gaston Browne where the Office of the Information Commissioner is actually located.

PM Browne told the House he had just received an update indicating that work was still ongoing at the proposed location. "I'm told that there's still some work to be done in the building. It's the same location on High Street, the Francis Trading building," the Prime Minister said.

When Pringle pressed further and asked when the office would be ready for the Information Commissioner to occupy, the Prime Minister responded that the Attorney General had advised him the office could be ready within six months.

It was not the first time such an announcement has been made. The Office of the Leader of the Opposition noted that the Prime Minister has announced the delay of the office's opening on multiple occasions — and that this latest six-month extension represents the continuation of a pattern that has left an institution important to transparency and accountability effectively non-operational.

Nearly Two Years of Waiting

Nearly two years have passed since Anthony Athill was approved as Antigua and Barbuda's Information Commissioner, yet the office intended to support his work is still not ready.

Athill's appointment was seen as an important step in strengthening Antigua and Barbuda's freedom of information framework, which is intended to give citizens, journalists, and other members of the public access to official records held by public authorities.

A Roadblock to Transparency

The Opposition has been unsparing in its assessment of the consequences. The perpetual closure of the Information Commissioner's office represents a significant roadblock to the proper functioning of the Freedom of Information Act — legislation that exists to allow citizens to obtain information regarding the affairs of the state, and which is widely regarded as a cornerstone of transparency, accountability, integrity, and public trust in government institutions and their officials.

Without an operational office, members of the public, civil society organisations, journalists, and researchers have no functioning mechanism through which to formally pursue requests for government-held information or appeal refusals — leaving the Freedom of Information Act as legislation that exists on paper but delivers nothing in practice.

The delay comes at a time when questions about access to public information, government record-keeping, and institutional accountability remain very much part of the national conversation.

No further details were provided in Parliament on the specific works still to be completed at the Francis Trading building on High Street.

A Pattern the Opposition Will Not Ignore

For a government that has been in office for twelve years and that is now in its fourth consecutive term, the failure to provide a simple physical office for a legally mandated public official is difficult to justify on logistical grounds alone. The continued non-functionality of the office empowered to enforce the people's rights to transparency, accountability and integrity raises a question that the Opposition has put firmly on the parliamentary record, "Whose interests does the delay serve?"