Former Ombudsman Commends Swaso for Integrity

Belize has gone eight months without a substantive Ombudsman, and former Ombudsman Cynthia Pitts says that should concern every Belizean. The last person to hold the post, retired Major Gilbert Swaso, served one term before government decided not to renew his contract. But Pitts says Swaso may have simply done what the office requires: act independently, even when his decisions made government uncomfortable. She says she warned him from the beginning that the job demands courage, because doing the right thing can come with political consequences. Pitts knows that firsthand. Her own contract was also not renewed after one term.

 

Cynthia Pitts, Former Ombudsman

“When he was appointed, he invited me, you know, to meet with him, and I gave him the same advice I’m telling you, you know, that he has to be strong, he has to be independent. But I knew he was coming from a political background, and so I knew it would be difficult. But my first glimmer of giving him points was when he organized a conference to really look at the SOE. nAnd we made recommendations because definitely at that point, the government had not handled it in the way that it should. And I thought to myself, “I wonder where this will go,” because this is definitely a political man of the government. Now, I don’t think that those recommendations were aired immediately. I don’t know if they were aired afterwards, but definitely our recommendations were not in keeping with how it had gone. And I gave him credit for that because I didn’t think he would do that. So that indicated to me that he was someone with, with a conscience, and he, and that he wanted to do the right thing, you know. And so I give him credit.”

 

Shane Williams

“And that goes to this, what the legislation is speaking to regards his contract was not renewed.”

 

Cynthia Pitts

“Well, mine either. Mine, mine was not renewed either. And so, you know, whenever you try to do the job well, I don’t think that you are you are the poster child for anybody.”

 

In Wednesday’s newscast, we will look at legislative proposals designed to strengthen the office and protect the Ombudsman from political retribution.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

Watch the full newscast here: