PNP’s St Catherine councillors demand immediate appointment of political ombudsman
Published:Friday | January 12, 2024 | 12:09 AMRuddy Mathison/Gleaner Writer
In a heated session during Thursday’s general meeting of the St Catherine Municipal Corporation, People’s National Party (PNP) councillors demanded the immediate appointment of a political ombudsman.
The call was led by Fenley Douglas, councillor for Waterford, who stressed the critical need for the appointment as the nation gears up for an impending political campaign.
Douglas recounted the past intervention of the political ombudsman in his community, highlighting the role it played in resolving grievances and ensuring equity.
“I speak passionately about this because a few years ago, the division that I represent had to seek the intervention of the political ombudsman because we were aggrieved as a community, and equity was served.”
Expressing frustration, Douglas said that “from this level, we are saying the country needs to appoint a political ombudsman based on where the political climate and temperature are”.
However, his plea was met with opposition from Jamaica Labour Party Councillor Neil Powell, who argued against the necessity of a political ombudsman in the current political landscape.
Powell asserted that Jamaica has attained a level of political maturity, with a decrease in political violence, suggesting that resources could be better allocated elsewhere.
“There is a level of political maturity in Jamaica now. Political violence is on the down low, so the money to resuscitate the office of the political ombudsman could be expended in other areas of the economy,” Powell argued, to the disapproval of the PNP-dominated municipal corporation.
Jamaica has been without a political ombudsman since November 2022, raising concerns about the absence of a mediator in the political process.
At the end of the term of the country’s most recent political ombudsman, Donna Parchment Brown, Justice Minister Delroy Chuck in 2022 announced plans to integrate the office’s functions into the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ). Recently, Chuck was quoted as saying he was trying to fast-track the process. However, this proposal faced criticism, including from Spanish Town Mayor Norman Scott, the chairman of the municipal corporation.
Scott, while supporting Douglas’ call for the immediate appointment of a political ombudsman, cautioned against replicating the political landscape of the 1980s.
“I am warning this Government, don’t get back to the 1980s. I was living in Spanish Town, I was young, but I don’t forget what happened, so I am warning the Government not to go down those dreadful roads again. We need to have the political ombudsman,” Scott declared.
He expressed reservations about merging the ombudsman’s functions with the ECJ, urging the Government to learn from history and maintain it as a separate post.
Several influential organisations, including the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, the Jamaica Council of Churches, and Citizens Action for Free and Fair Elections, have already joined the chorus in advocating for the swift appointment of a political ombudsman.