Editorial | Bring back the ombudsman

Were the political ombudsman’s office occupied, Isat Buchanan’s crude sexual advice to Paula Llewellyn and Michelle Charles’ hand-up-her-skirt admonition of one of her constituents would be matters ripe for her investigation.

But that post has been unfilled since the seven-year tenure of the last ombudsman, Donna Parchment Brown, expired in 2022. The Holness administration has shown little inclination of filling it, despite earlier mutterings of some ill-defined role for the ombudsman within the office of the Electoral Commission of Jamaica, which manages the island’s elections.

However, this newspaper insists that not only is there still a job for the ombudsman within the old construct, but in the context of the code of conduct Prime Minister Andrew Holness promised to have established for members of parliament (MPs) and ministers.

It is noted that when Mr Holness, in the face of a public backlash against big pay hikes for legislators, undertook to have a parliamentary committee fashion that code, he spoke with a sense of urgency. That was in the first half of June.

IN SECRET

If the joint select committee to do the job has been chosen and has begun its work, it is probably in secret; or the group has deliberately kept a low profile. Its members are not publicly known, and there has been no call for submissions from civil society organisations or other interested parties. Neither have there been hearings.

The political ombudsman is an independent commission of Parliament whose job, when one is in place, is to monitor adherence to the code of conduct agreed to by Jamaica’s registered political parties. The office also investigates any action “by a political party, its members or supporters ... (that) is likely to prejudice good relations between the supporters of various political parties”.

The offences of Mr Buchanan and Dr Charles, we believe, fall squarely within the mandate of the law.

Mr Buchanan is a lawyer, and until he was forced to resign a fortnight ago, was also the chairman of the human rights commission of the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP). Dr Charles is the MP for St Thomas Eastern for the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

Recently, the Government, in contentious fashion, amended Jamaica’s Constitution to increase the age for retirement for the director of public prosecutions (DPP) and the auditor general (AuG) from 60 to 65, but with the possibility of the persons being allowed to continue until 70.

The legislative process was completed in one afternoon, with only a day’s notice to the Opposition. It is believed that the move was to facilitate a further period in office for the DPP, Paula Llewellyn, who has already enjoyed one extension.

The Opposition, as it was three years ago, is against any further extension of Ms Llewellyn’s tenure. In commenting on the possibility that she will be re-engaged, Mr Buchanan, quoting the music of the jailed Jamaican dancehall deejay, Vybz Kartel, explicitly advised Ms Llewellyn to engage in a sexual act.

In Dr Charles’ case, a constituent entered her office with an orange rag (orange is the PNP’s colour). The embarrassed woman was jocularly admonished for having that colour in a JLP office, and Dr Charles proceeded to lodge the rag somewhere under the woman’s dress. Like Mr Buchanan, Dr Charles, in the face of public outrage, apologised.

There is no ombudsman to pronounce on these matters.

Established when Jamaica’s election campaigns were likely to turn violent and needing an independent arbiter of political conduct, the office has existed in some form for well over two decades. While election-related violence has sharply declined, there is still often tensions between the parties, which gives the political ombudsman continued relevance.

MORAL FORCE

While the ombudsman had no real power to enforce her recommendations, the findings of the office regarding the behaviour of politicians carried some moral force and deterrent effect. No one wants to be labelled as the aggressor, misbehaving in a political dispute.

But the job should be expanded. Prior to Prime Minister Holness’ undertaking to push through his long outstanding codes of behaviour and job description for MPs, this newspaper proposed that the ombudsman be transformed to the Commission of Parliamentary and Political Conduct, whose responsibilities would cover some of the matters envisioned in the impeachment bill tabled by the opposition leader, Mark Golding.

Under that proposed law, actions by legislators that, prima facie, reach the threshold for impeachment would be investigated by Parliament’s ethics committee, which, if it concludes that a case has been made, would turn the matter over to an impeachment tribunal for trial.

This newspaper, however, feels that the Commission for Parliamentary and Political Conduct would be better placed to conduct those investigations, in addition to policing the code of conduct for parliamentarians, as well as continuing the ombudsman’s existing job. This would require only minor tweaks of the current law.

Until the code of conduct for MPs is in place and the impeachment bill is passed, the Government should bring back the ombudsman.