Communications and Works Minister Kye Rymer drew fire from the opposition during a recent House of Assembly meeting for refusing to provide the names of the drivers who were issued taxi licences from 2019 to 2024.
He did, however, provide other information.
In response to opposition member Marlon Penn’s request for the drivers’ names, Mr. Rymer cited section 18.6 of the Standing Orders of the HOA, which states that a “minister may decline to answer a question if the publication of the answer would in his opinion be contrary to the public interest.”
“As far as I’m aware, in this honorable House we have a time-honoured tradition of not arbitrarily calling the names of members of the public,” Mr. Rymer said. “That is partly because they do not have the privilege that we as members of this House possess. They do not have a platform here to defend themselves.”
In response to other questions from Mr. Penn, the minister provided aggregate information from the years in question: the number of licences issued; the age ranges of drivers who received licences; and the number of licences issued in each district.
Licences data
According to Mr. Rymer, a total of 103 taxi licences were issued in the years from 2019 to 2023. Nearly half of these licences were issued in 2019, at 45. The second-highest year was 2023, with 37. No taxi licences have been issued so far this year, according to the minister’s numbers.
District Two had the most licences issued, at 23. District Eight came in second, at 13. The districts with the lowest numbers were One and Four, which each had seven. Thirty-two of the licensees were between the ages of 37 and 47. One licence was issued for someone in the age range of 70-80.
Public interest?
Opposition member Myron Walwyn criticised Mr. Rymer for refusing to name the taxi drivers who received licences, arguing that the term “public interest” needs to be properly defined in section 18.6 of the Standing Orders.
“For the minister to simply go under something that has not been defined to avoid answering that question, it’s not appropriate,” Mr. Walwyn said. “So perhaps we need to get a proper legal opinion for the benefit of all members as to what is deemed to be public interest. It just can’t be what the minister thinks is public interest. I don’t think we can work that way.”
Second refusal
Mr. Penn agreed, pointing out that Mr. Rymer’s refusal was the second time during the May 2 HOA meeting that a minister used section 18.6 to withhold requested information.
In response to an earlier question from Mr. Penn that day, Premier Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley refused to disclose the names of people involved in transactions for festival activities in 2022 and 2023.
Mr. Penn said using this section of the Standing Orders to avoid answering parts of questions has set a “dangerous precedent” in the HOA.