Basseterre, St. Kitts (February 14, 2005): Prime Minister Hon. Dr Denzil Douglas and Minister of State in the Ministry of Information Hon. Nigel Carty hosted a retreat for the Federations top government media practitioners on Sunday, February 13.
The retreat aimed at restating and refocusing governments commitment to citizens and the international community with regard to information sharing and transparency.
Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Denzil Douglas, in addressing senior practitioners and managers present at the retreat, called on them to come up with strategic means of placing Governments information systems at the leading edge of information thereby fulfilling the populations right and need to know.
Frank and open discussions followed presentations by managers of the various entities. Focus group sessions highlighted short comings and possible solutions in improving the capacity of the information system to carry out its people-oriented mandate.
Coming out of the evenings proceedings were documents from three focus groups stating suggestions for the way forward with specific emphasis on collaboration between the entities.
Prime Minister Douglas re-emphasized the importance of educating the masses on a wide number of topics among which issues of regional and international import were named.
Minister of Information, Carty said he used the opportunity to get a clearer understanding of the interaction between the various wings of the government information system as well as to give valuable input with regard to the governments policy of transparency.
The new minister, himself a technology pundit, was able to provide valuable suggestions and brought to the table a fresh perspective on the operations of the Government Information Systems.
