Transfer of functions of the political ombudsman to the ECJ is unwise

THE EDITOR, Madam:

CITIZENS ACTION for Free and Fair Elections (CAFFE) notes with concern that Parliament has proceeded to enact legislation which will transfer the powers held by the Office of the Political Ombudsman to the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ).

In September 2023, CAFFE issued a public statement to the effect that CAFFE did not consider it to be prudent to submit to the ECJ the ethical questions which are normally dealt with by the Political Ombudsman and recommended that a designated person be assigned the responsibilities of this office for the anticipated election period.

Neither the Government nor the parliamentary Opposition responded to CAFFE’s submission. Neither the Government nor Opposition had engaged civil society organisations or the general public in any discussions on the matter, although the Political Ombudsman (Interim) Act to which they had both subscribed provided for the establishment within the Constitution of a separate Office of Political Ombudsman.

In fact, in an earlier statement, which we issued in November 2022, when this matter was first mentioned, we indicated that this should not be done without the requisite public consultation.

There was no opportunity given to the public to examine the draft bill. Despite the importance of the subject matter, no parliamentary committee was established to which the public could have been invited to make submissions.

Although it is a subject falling within the terms of reference of the Constitutional Reform Committee, that committee was not asked to engage in a public consultation on the subject with a view to providing its recommendations prior to the tabling of the bill or the making of the decision to subsume the Office of Public Ombudsman in the ECJ.

DELICATE TASK

CAFFE wishes to point out that the composition of the ECJ includes four active politicians. As recently demonstrated by the acrimonious interchanges between the president of the Senate, who is a JLP member of the ECJ, and a PNP senator, the delicate task of adjudicating disputes between politicians engaged in a heated election climate cannot be entrusted to a body comprised of active politicians. The inappropriateness of this arrangement is emphasised by the Political Ombudsman (Interim) Act which provides for confidential reports to be made to the Political Ombudsman, so that citizens can feel free that they can report apparent acts of misconduct by the politicians and their supporters without their identity being disclosed to the political associates of the alleged offender. This factor is specially recognised by the Political Ombudsman (Interim) Act which states that no person shall be qualified for appointment to the Office of Political Ombudsman if he is a member of the Senate or House of Representatives. It is therefore completely inconsistent with these provisions to rest the functions of the Political Ombudsman in the ECJ which consists of parliamentarians.

We believe that these are critical issues of concern to the nation and therefore CAFFE reaffirms its opinion that the transfer of the functions of the Political Ombudsman to the ECJ is unwise and not in the interest of the democratic values that we espouse.