EDITORIAL - Still a role for the ombudsman

We, like Dr Peter Phillips, believe that ditching Jamaica's political ombudsman would be premature. For we are not sanguine that the transformation of the political culture which gave rise to the post has been fully achieved.

Indeed, it is our view that there is a good way to go to complete the change, which can, and should, be accelerated by legislative action to which the two main political parties, the PNP and the JLP, say they are committed.

First, our position on the Office of the Political Ombudsman is informed by the context and history of its establishment. Thirty-three years ago, a long and violent election campaign caused hundreds of deaths. It is the contention of some people that the country was close to, if not actually engaged in, a civil war.

Happily, we pulled back from the brink. But the politics of coercion and violence, though greatly receded, has not been eliminated. Many of its vestiges remain.

VIOLENCE STILL EXISTS

Still in existence are the zones of political exclusion that in Jamaica we refer to as garrisons. The gun-toting enforcers who used to systematically frighten opponents from ballot boxes, or corral votes for their side, are today less dependent on politicians. Yet, they find strategic value in cloaking themselves in the garb of the party, to which, at critical periods, they provide 'services'. Indeed, there are still violent incidents, or actions, that could incite violence in Jamaican election campaigns.

It is against this backdrop that the first ombudsman was installed in the 1980s to investigate breaches of the code of political behaviour signed by the parties. Its real sanction was a public naming, and thus shaming, of those who misbehave.

This newspaper does not believe that the Office of the Political Ombudsman, either under the incumbent, Bishop Herro Blair, or his predecessor, has often acted with the required speed, given the fast-paced nature of a political campaign. But we have no doubt that the office has been a calming influence on, and in some cases, deterrent to, misbehaviour.

Of course, there has been a growing maturity, outside the influence of the ombudsman, in our politics, helped in no small measure by reforms in election management and voting procedures, led by the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) and its precursor.

TRANSFORMATION NOT COMPLETE

So, as Dr Phillips, who has emerged as the transformational political thinker in the PNP, observed, lessened tensions may not make the ombudsman as immediately and apparently necessary as in the past.

But as he rightly warned: "What we ought not to do is to assume that we have satisfied all the transformation of our political culture ... ."

A referee like the ombudsman still has a place, especially if the office is speedier in its investigations and reports than it has been in the past.

At the same time, the transformation which Dr Phillips wishes will be advanced with the passage of promised laws for the registration of political parties and the reporting of financial contributions to the ECJ. There is also the outstanding issue of financing campaigns.

Such legislation will help to make parties accountable and limit the power of special interests, whether legal or those outside or on the periphery of the law. Maybe there may be a role for the ombudsman, working with the ECJ, in policing these regulations when they come into force.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.