Well dear readers, on 9th May, the Ukrainian equivalent of the Freedom of Information Act came into force.
On they very first day the law on Access to Public Information came into operation effect, 18 requests were received and thus far, 11 dealt with and 7 pending.
A necessary step forward to fight corruption and deal with issues of accountability me thinks. Also very brave of those in power considering they all have skeletons in their cupboards that will undoubtedly come to light via this law in the next decade.
Even if those in power manage to suppress information about them today, when the next colour of government gets in, and that will happen eventually, the same requests for information initially denied would be released.
Given the amount of behind the scenes dealings since independence at all levels of Ukrainian public life, you have to suspect this will quickly become a very busy office and a well used law by the general public. That said, you would suspect that anything too incriminating for anyone too well placed will have been lost, misfiled or destroyed by accident or design.
Nevertheless, going forward, unless the Ukrainian psyche changes to that of sofa-government and no written records as per Tony Blair’s years as Prime Minister (conveniently), this has to be a good thing for Ukraine eventually.
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