When psychologist and writer Carol Shuman wrote in her newspaper column that Bermuda desperately needed a freedom of information law she thought she might ruffle a few feathers.

But she didn't expect to be asked by officials already working on secret plans for such legislation to keep the topic of open government under wraps.

Dr. Shuman shared emails with The Royal Gazette which she received back in 2004 when Government's Central Policy Unit (CPU) was exploring plans for a public access to information (PATI) law.

At the time she had a regular column in the Bermuda Sun and had written about how ordinary citizens would benefit from such laws.

The next day, an e-mail arrived from a civil servant at the CPU advising her that a freedom of information (FOI) project team was working on just such an act and had consulted experts like British campaigner Maurice Frankel.

Dr. Shuman wrote back to ask if she could share that information with readers in her next column and got this reply: "Meetings were held with media representatives to discuss public access to information and during a subsequent meeting with your Editor, Tony McWilliam on 17 November 2003, it was agreed that NO articles would be run on FOI at this time."

A couple of days later, Warren Jones, then head of the CPU and now Permanent Secretary for Health, sent a message of his own to Dr. Shuman.

"FOI is a huge undertaking for any Government and must be handled properly if it is to be successful," he wrote. "It will represent a change of culture from one of secrecy to one of openness and in that regard, consultation has been underway internal to the Government to ensure that civil servants understand exactly what FOI will mean to the way we do business."

His e-mail continued: "FOI can only be successful if there is strong political will to make it happen. The Premier as the head of Government must be the one to lead this process. This is intended to occur very shortly.

"We would respectfully ask if you could hold fire until the Premier has been able to personally introduce the initiative and the work of the project team.

"We would really like to ensure that this work will be successful and therefore want to bring it forward in a formal and planned fashion. We were excited when we saw your article, and therefore wanted to let you know that we are on the same page."

Dr. Shuman told this newspaper: "I thought it was simply hilarious that they told me to shut up about FOI, basically!"

She said she was disappointed that plans for the law seemed to have stalled since Mr. Jones wrote to her and fully supported The Royal Gazette's current A Right to Know: Giving People Power campaign, which calls for legislation to be passed this year.

"That e-mail came to me almost four years ago and the sounds of silence were thundering until the RG stood up for FOI," she said.

"That is among the reasons I am so pleased to see the RG taking such a committed stance. FOI in Bermuda would bring about a level of accountability that would lead to good governance, something Bermuda cannot do without, given that not only does it depend upon tourists, but it depends upon the presence of international business."