Dear Editor,
The newly appointed political ombudsman, Donna Parchment-Brown, has a mammoth task ahead to report on the numerous political complaints, among other conditions from the citizenry. The chief aim remains the need to change the negative political practices so that Jamaicans are encouraged and are eager to vote whenever there is an election.
With this in mind, the political ombudsman is an officer appointed by the State who is responsible for receiving and investigating complaints from citizens against unjust administrative actions. The powers of the ombudsman are to supervise how political officials, and other civil servants, observe the laws of the country and to pursue penalty when individuals are found to have violated good practices and/or neglected their duties.
The political ombudsman decides which subjects shall be investigated and make decisions on what actions should be taken. For this reason, the holder of the office does not receive any instructions. The office is both formally and in reality entirely independent of any Government influence, even that of Parliament itself, but is made dependent only on the laws of the country.
Significantly, though, no one in Parliament should try to influence the office to act in a certain direction when investigating a particular incident.
The political ombudsman must, therefore, be unhindered and have access to all documents needed for investigation, and has the right to be present at all discussions at which judges or administrative officials make rulings. In addition, the office has the right to ask for the assistance of any official for the purpose of making necessary investigations.
Consequently, the political ombudsman will have to give a summary of the most important cases upon which decisions were made during the year, having the responsibility to distribute them to all administrative officials.
All in all, the newly installed political ombudsman, Donna Parchment-Brown, will have to exercise her power of authority with much dependence on good judgement with the intention to enhance civility so that a wider cross section of the society can become more aware of her major role and responsibilities.
Valentine Pearson
valenempearson@yahoo.com
The newly appointed political ombudsman, Donna Parchment-Brown, has a mammoth task ahead to report on the numerous political complaints, among other conditions from the citizenry. The chief aim remains the need to change the negative political practices so that Jamaicans are encouraged and are eager to vote whenever there is an election.
With this in mind, the political ombudsman is an officer appointed by the State who is responsible for receiving and investigating complaints from citizens against unjust administrative actions. The powers of the ombudsman are to supervise how political officials, and other civil servants, observe the laws of the country and to pursue penalty when individuals are found to have violated good practices and/or neglected their duties.
The political ombudsman decides which subjects shall be investigated and make decisions on what actions should be taken. For this reason, the holder of the office does not receive any instructions. The office is both formally and in reality entirely independent of any Government influence, even that of Parliament itself, but is made dependent only on the laws of the country.
Significantly, though, no one in Parliament should try to influence the office to act in a certain direction when investigating a particular incident.
The political ombudsman must, therefore, be unhindered and have access to all documents needed for investigation, and has the right to be present at all discussions at which judges or administrative officials make rulings. In addition, the office has the right to ask for the assistance of any official for the purpose of making necessary investigations.
Consequently, the political ombudsman will have to give a summary of the most important cases upon which decisions were made during the year, having the responsibility to distribute them to all administrative officials.
All in all, the newly installed political ombudsman, Donna Parchment-Brown, will have to exercise her power of authority with much dependence on good judgement with the intention to enhance civility so that a wider cross section of the society can become more aware of her major role and responsibilities.
Valentine Pearson
valenempearson@yahoo.com