Transparency advocate Wendell Eversley has launched a landmark push to unseal more than four decades of confidential government documents tied to the management of diplomatic and official passports, arguing that full disclosure is critical to determining whether successive national administrations have uniformly applied existing laws governing these special travel credentials.
Eversley formally submitted the sweeping freedom of information request on Tuesday through his legal representative, attorney Renuka Sagramsingh-Sooklal. The request was filed with two top government officials: the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs, and the Chief Immigration Officer. The documents being sought cover a broad range of materials, including internal policy guidelines, formal legal opinions, confidential Cabinet records, statistical datasets, and other official documents related to every stage of diplomatic and official passport processing — from initial issuance and ongoing retention to temporary suspension and permanent revocation.
The filing comes at a moment of rising public scrutiny over the current government’s management of diplomatic passports, with growing public conversation centered on whether decisions regarding these credentials for former public office holders have been applied fairly and consistently across political transitions.
In the cover letter accompanying the official request, Sagramsingh-Sooklal emphasized that Eversley’s push for documents is not rooted in partisan political gain, but rather a broader push for greater transparency and accountability in how executive branch power is exercised. “My client neither approaches this matter from a partisan perspective nor seeks to advance any political narrative,” the attorney wrote in the filing. “Rather, he seeks to ascertain whether the powers entrusted to the Executive have been exercised consistently, lawfully, rationally and in accordance with established legal principles over successive administrations.”
Sagramsingh-Sooklal further noted that diplomatic and official passports are far more than standard travel documents. They are formal instruments through which a state extends sovereign privileges and official international recognition to specific designated office holders, giving the public’s right to know about their distribution significant weight. She argued that there is an “overwhelming public interest” in answering core unaddressed questions: who qualifies for these elite passports, what formal criteria are used to approve applications, under what conditions recipients may retain their credentials after leaving public office, what legal framework governs cancellation or revocation, and what safeguards exist to ensure executive power is applied consistently across all administrations.
The FOI request is structured to cover three distinct time frames: January 1, 1981 through April 28, 2025; May 2, 2025 through May 3, 2026; and May 4, 2026 through the date the ministry issues its formal response to the request.
Beyond the core categories of documents already outlined, Eversley is also seeking all internal policy manuals, formal circulars, and executive directives governing passport administration, rosters of eligibility categories for these credentials, documentation outlining which government authorities hold power to approve, renew, cancel, and recover passports, full Cabinet notes and formal decisions related to eligibility standards, all legal opinions prepared by the foreign ministry, the Chief State Solicitor, or the Attorney General, and complete statistical records tracking how many diplomatic and official passports have been issued, cancelled, and remain in active circulation. The request also specifically asks for records detailing whether spouses, children, and other dependents of current and former office holders qualify for diplomatic or official passports, as well as all documentation related to policies requiring the surrender or recovery of passports following resignation, retirement, dismissal, loss of elected office, or a change in governing administration.