NEWLY-appointed Ombudsman Rajmanlal Joseph has hit the ground running.
Joseph was appointed on Wednesday by President Paula-Mae Weekes and took his oath before House Speaker Bridgid Annisette-George.
As Ombudsman, he is an officer of the Parliament and is responsible only to Parliament. His office is non-political.
He replaced former deputy chief magistrate Mark Wellington, who succeeded former solicitor general Lynette Stephenson, who was appointed in 2006. Retired judge Evans Rees was sworn in as this country's first ombudsman in 1977 and was replaced by retired justice of appeal George Edoo in 1991.
Rajmanlal will have to submit annual reports on the performance of his functions, including statistics of the complaints received and the results of his investigations.
With “no time to waste,” shortly after taking his oath, Joseph met with senior staff at the office, including the head of the legal department, who is on pre-retirement leave, but gladly gave up one day to meet with him to bring him up-to-date on the task ahead of him.
“I indicated to them I want a listing of all the old matters,” he said.
Joseph intends to deal with those personally, since, he says, “The public cannot and should not wait a lengthy period to get redress.
“I want to clear those off…Make sure the people get the type of responses they are due.”
“I have no time to waste. I have my agenda. I know my office...I am not grasping in the dark. I know what I have to do.”
He also met with senior investigators, telling them he wants to tighten up the process of investigations and outcome.
Since he is aware that government departments and state agencies “vacillate” in responding to inquiries – especially in cases where the fault was theirs – Joseph wants to set timelines to receive these responses.
And if these agencies do not respond in good time?
“We may have to invoke our powers under the Constitution to compel them to give evidence.”
“…What is strange is this: I know for a fact that the ombudsman, in the past, used his/her power to summon people. In recent times it has not been done.”
He says he could envisage government ministries and other public authorities “balking” at a summons.
“I am expecting a situation where people would be reluctant to give information. By tightening up our timelines to get information from these public authorities, we can deal with matters speedily.”
“…People have a right to expect an authority will give them a resolution with their complaint in a fair and expeditious manner.”
The principal function of the Ombudsman is to investigate complaints of administrative injustice in respect to decisions made or acts done or omitted, by a minister or department or authority of Government.
A citizen can make a complaint with a view to redressing the mistakes, delays, rigidity and carelessness of the government bureaucracy, the Office of the Parliament’s website said in an overview of the functions of an ombudsman.
However, the role of the Ombudsman is an advisory one and the consequenc
