Lester Spaulding (left), managing director the RJR Communications Group, greets Prime Minister Bruce Golding, one of the main speakers at yesterday's seminar on press freedom and corruption prevention at the Mona Visitors' Lodge, yesterday. - Photos by Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

Prime Minister Bruce Golding has mandated the committee reviewing the libel and slander laws to also review the Secrecy Act.

The Prime Minister says he is inclined to abolish the secrecy laws now in effect for government officials, but he wants the committee to advise him on the matter.

According to Golding, the Access to Information Act makes provision for sensitive information to remain confidential within the government.

The Prime Minister was speaking at a seminar on press freedom and corruption prevention at the Mona Visitors' Lodge at the University of the West Indies.

It was organised by the Media Association of Jamaica in association with the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce and the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica.

Other speakers yesterday included Justice Hugh Small, who heads a government-appointed committee to review the country's libel and defamation laws; Gary Allen, deputy managing director of the RJR Group, and Dame Bernice Lake, Q.C., a highly respected member of the legal profession in the Eastern Caribbean.

Ralph Chen was among members of the public who attended yesterday's seminar on press freedom and corruption prevention. Justice Hugh Small, who leads a government-appointed committee to review the country's libel and defamation laws, said that the public will be consulted before a final report is submitted.

Editor of the Stabroek News, a newspaper in Guyana, Anand Persaud, talks about the government's withdrawal of advertisements from the newspaper and its impact on press freedom. At right is Gary Allen, deputy managing director of the RJR Communications Group, who was one of the speakers at the seminar.

Dame Bernice Lake, Q.C., a member of the legal profession in the Eastern Caribbean, speaking at the seminar.

Veteran journalist John Maxwell makes his contribution at yesterday's seminar

Press Association of Jamaica President Desmond Richards explains a point about press freedom. Listening at left is Ed Khoury, the chief executive officer of the Jamaica Observer, one of the moderators.