Ombudsman has a herculean task on his hands – Chris Ram

Jul 09, 2014 News

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Chartered Accountant, Christopher Ram has said in one of his articles on his website (chrisram.net) that while the appointment of retired judge Winston Moore as Ombudsman can be seen as the first step to establishing and/or restoring non-functioning constitutional offices, he has before him a herculean task.

The accountant asserted that, “Given the tremendous backlog of matters which would fall to be investigated and the loss of institutional capacity to deal with them, Mr. Moore has a herculean task on his hands. He will need not only the necessary resources but also the cooperation of the public and of the government agencies against which complaints are lodged.”

In his article, Ram expressed satisfaction and extended congratulations on the appointment of retired Judge as Ombudsman.

“It must have taken courage by the President to make the announcement to fill an office that his predecessor left vacant for more than a full presidential term.”

He added that Guyana has the distinction of being the first country in the Commonwealth Caribbean and Western hemisphere and second only to New Zealand among Commonwealth countries to have a constitutionally entrenched Ombudsman system. He acknowledged that in Guyana, the Office of Ombudsman is a requirement of the Constitution and is buttressed by a separate statute.

Ram reminded that the Office of Ombudsman was created in the 1966 Independence Constitution and its powers have remained largely unchanged since then: to investigate any administrative action taken by any government department or other authority or by the President, ministers, officers or members of any government department or other authority. The 1980 Constitution brought actions by the President within the scope of the Ombudsman’s powers.

“In a Foreword to the publication of the Role of the Ombudsman in Guyana by the previous Ombudsman, Mr S Y Mohamed, former Chancellor of the Judiciary Keith Massiah noted that Mr Mohamed had “exposed the frustrations of the Office, the scant regard paid to his recommendations by public officials, seeming lack of parliamentary interest in his work and the discourtesy of some public officers…”

He reminded too that at the swearing-in of Justice Moore, President Ramotar said that “Constitutionally, the country needs not only an Ombudsman but one that is effective. The President must now ensure that the resources to make the office effective are provided and that the government establishes a strict protocol requiring public officers to cooperate with the Ombudsman and his staff.”

When contacted yesterday, the Ombudsman informed that since he has held the office for the past six months he has no complaints at this point when it comes to cooperation with government agencies.

“I am not sure of Ram’s statements, he seems to be speculating, but what I can say at this point is that there has been cooperation with government agencies. I won’t go into too many details but before the month ends, I will be sending out a release stating what we have done thus far and where we stand at this point. There is no backlog facing the Ombudsman’s office.”

When asked whether the allocated $35M for his office is enough to accomplish what he has planned for the agency, the Ombudsman said, “Well, I would say that we are working with it.”

Members of the political Opposition have categorically stated that the mere appointment of an Ombudsman is only half of the task. The Opposition has demanded that the Office of the Ombudsman be “fully staffed” and given the necessary resources that would strengthen its investigative capacity.
Moore asserts that his office is staffed and currently has the capacity to carry out effective investigations.

On January 13, Moore was sworn in as the new Ombudsman at the Office of the President. The significant post is one which was vacant for the past eight years. An Ombudsman, though appointed by the Government or Parliament, is given a significant amount of autonomy. He is also mandated to represent the interests of the public by investigating and addressing complaints of mal-administration or violation of rights.
More specifically, Shadow Minister of Labour Mr. Basil Williams had previously said, “The role of the Ombudsman is to basically stand up for citizens. This independent body is also tasked with carrying out proper investigations on the violations of people’s rights. We (APNU) don’t want the office to become a “sinecure” (a job or place that is paid but does little to no work) which has been the case in several instances in the past and there is a danger of it becoming like that if we don’t pay attention to it having an effective investigative capacity.”
Additionally, based on the nature of some of the complaints received and the expectations of the complainants, the Ombudsman said that there is a serious need for a lot of outreach programmes. He said, “There are a lot of misconceptions about what I am empowered to do. I have said before that we need to meet the people but it is something that will be attended to after we see what has been granted to us.”

 

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