Can the Ombudsman Really Hold Government Accountable?

What happens when the government fails you, and the office meant to defend you does not have the power to force change? That is the question now facing Belize’s Office of the Ombudsman. The recent rift between government and former Ombudsman Gilbert Swaso has exposed serious weaknesses in the institution, from limited enforcement powers to scarce resources and dependence on the very administration it is supposed to hold accountable. Tonight, News Five’s Shane Williams looks at proposals to strengthen the Ombudsman’s Office and rebuild public trust.

 

Shane Williams, Reporting

Eight months after an ugly separation between government and Major Gilbert Swaso, Belize is still without an Ombudsman. Belize passed the Ombudsman Act back in April 1994 under Sir Manuel Esquivel’s second administration. But the office did not actually come to life until more than five years later, when Paul Rodriguez was appointed as the country’s first Ombudsman in August 1999. Colloquially, the Ombudsman is known as the poor man’s attorney and is responsible for investigating complaints of wrongdoing, corruption, abuse, injustice or injury by an authority.

 

Take the case of cattle farmer Richard Cal, who was relaxing on his farm in Pomona when three armed men in plain clothing approached and ordered him to put his hands up. Fearing for his life, Cal fled. They shot Cal in the leg before identifying themselves as police. Authorities still have not explained why the officers were on the farm. Now Cal is facing a massive hospital bill, months of rehab, and no way to work. If ever there was a case for the Ombudsman, this is it.

 

Cynthia Pitts, Former Ombudsman

“It deals with the injustices of the government. The word used, mal-administration of the government and those entities that are mentioned in the law, such as the police.”

 

Cynthia Pitts served as Ombudsman from 2009 to 2012 and says complaints against police were her most frequent cases. But as she handled those cases, she quickly saw just how limited her office really was.

 

Cynthia Pitts

“The limitations are from the offices that you seek to really address the complaints, that you wouldn’t get- Answers and responses.”

 

The problem is that the Ombudsman’s findings and recommendations do not carry the force of law. There is a minor penalty of up to one thousand dollars for an authority who refuses to comply with the office.

 

Major Gilbert Swaso (Ret’d), Former Ombudsman

“When we start finding that there is an appearance of willful or apparent neglect to respond, then the next step would have been to ensure then that these people were summoned to, by law, so that then they are compelled to answer, or if not, they’ll be held in contempt.”

 

The reform would give the Ombudsman real teeth by making its recommendations legally binding and enforceable. Failure to comply with the office will also carry a penalty of a fine up to five thousand dollars and up to two years imprisonment.  Almost everybody knows someone with a Lands Department horror story. An application stuck for years, land suddenly claimed by someone else, or documents that simply vanish. There is a reason the department was once called a hotbed of corruption.

 

Cynthia Pitts

“I remember the lands department, you know that’s a troublesome place. And you would have people coming from Toledo, Punta Gorda, and they would come and complain, “I’ve been there eight times. I travel. I can’t see who I should see. I have to spend the night because I can’t go back and come back.”

 

While anecdotal, there are hundreds of these kinds of complaints. But as the law currently stands, the Ombudsman can only investigate specific and official reports. The idea is to let the Ombudsman investigate corruption and major public concerns without waiting for a formal complaint. But this leads to another existing limitation, resources. The institution lacks financial and operational independence, as it has no guaranteed budget protection, cannot independently determine its budget requirements, has no autonomy over staffing and is unable to procure independent legal services without government approval.

 

Cynthia Pitts

“The office was not resourced as it should. We were very small office, no staff, and those were the limitations.”

 

Under the proposal, the Ombudsman would control its own budget and staffing. If lawmakers reduce funding, they must justify that decision in writing. Leader of the Opposition Tracy Panton says the Ombudsman’s office and all watchdogs should be given the resources to operate independently.

 

Tracy Panton,  Leader of the Opposition

“It is the same with the Office of the Ombudsman, Integrity Commission, Contractor General, Auditor General’s office. And so we have to find ways to ensure that these entities can function with autonomy and with having the appropriate resources to do the job that they’re expected to do.”

 

The proposal addresses many limitations based on best practices in the CARICOM jurisdiction, including a non-renewable seven-year-term limit to prevent fear of reprisal, powers to execute asset recovery and enshrining the authority of the Ombudsman in the Constitution of Belize. But this big, beautiful proposal would mean nothing without someone of high integrity sitting in the currently vacant seat.  Shane Williams for News Five.

 

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.

 

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