In a press statement on Monday regarding the postponement of the new education law, the Minister for Education, Hon. Rolston Anglin, made an interesting admission.

“There has been some criticism about the postponement of the new Education Modernisation Law (2009), which I acknowledge has, in part, been generated by the fact that I have not sufficiently explained why this necessary step was taken,” Mr Anglin said.

To the best of our recollection, ministers have rarely acknowledged that some controversies are unnecessarily generated by a failure to communicate and we have to applaud Mr Anglin for, first of all realising what the problem is and, second, acknowledging it publicly.

Regrettably, this elevated consciousness of the importance of communicating fully and effectively with public is not universal.

We learned only recently that the Leader of Government Business, Hon. McKeeva Bush, is planning to hold a meeting with all top civil servants and other leaders from the private sector, including the financial and tourism industry stakeholders, on Thursday at the Ritz Carlton.

However, details of this reported meeting only came to light following a flurry of media enquiries. We therefore wonder why these things are so shrouded in secrecy instead of being openly announced and discussed in advance instead of being sprung upon the public.

Again, the government’s lack of a media communications strategy is lacking here. Why should the public wait to learn that the government is going to meet with those mentioned, and what are the topic(s) to be discussed?

Why should the country have to wait for some managed press release… after such an apparently important meeting is over and done with?

The proper and most effective way to keep the public engaged is to give us reasonable notice that the government and industry stakeholders are going to meet and, presumably, try to come up with ideas that could help in these troublesome economic times.

If this is communicated properly, it will not only give us all some hope that the government is at least trying to find a way forward, many people not participating in such meetings may nevertheless have something useful to contribute to the public debate – if only we knew what was going on.

It would also keep the residents of these Islands happier rather than stressed out because of the lack of information as to who is doing what to try and improve the sad state of the economy these days.

We cannot repeat too often that there is a responsibility on any government to share with the people immediately a problem arises, the truth about that problem and what attempts are being made to find a solution, so that the support of men and women of goodwill may be brought to bear through the simple process of understanding.

There can be no denying that public affairs go as badly as public indifference permits, or as well as public involvement demands. The business of the government is the business of the people, so they must be told what is happening, why it is happening and, at the end of the day, how it in fact happened.

People can only support what they know about, what they understand from the knowledge they have and, above all else, what they clearly see is in their interest as a people in general. They should not, and must not be expected to give blind support for secret deals, or hush-hush happenings they knew nothing about in advance.

If those in control and authority want to keep the people committed to promises of good governance, accountability and transparency, then they must take the people into their confidence, and share with them what is going on and what is ostensibly being done in their name.

This is not the first time we have seen fit to address the issue of the failure to communicate properly with the people during the first three months of this government’s term of office and, since no improvement has been apparent. It is our hope that this habit will not last.

As we have remarked before, an informed public is an engaged public and the country needs all the support and participation it can get in these trying economic times.