The Office of the Political Ombudsman, is investigating an incident in which Jamaica Labour Party supporters were allegedly attacked by persons who were clad in People’s National Party, PNP, t-shirts.

The incident happened on the weekend in South East Clarendon, where a by-election is slated for next Monday.

A video of the incident has been circulating on social media.

Political Ombudsman, Donna Parchment Brown, says her office is to meet tomorrow with at least two of the persons involved in the incident.

She says her office is also arranging a meeting with the general secretaries of both the JLP and the PNP to discuss the need for their supporters to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner.

She says the incident has overshadowed an otherwise peaceful campaign period.

Donna Parchment Brown, Political Ombudsman, speaking this afternoon with Nationwide News.

She says no form of violent behaviour has any place in Jamaica’s political system.

Kicking off an awareness building campaign, the Office of the Political Ombudsman today met with the Jamaican Constabulary Force (JCF) Liaison Officers from across the island.

The office says the session was designed to sensitise liaison officers in advance of national and local campaigning and elections.

It noted that the liaison officers play a key role investigating potential breaches of the Code of Conduct and keeping it informed of queries and complaints lodged by the public.

Today’s meeting focused on the roles of both the Ombudsman and the JCF and how, together, they can work to promote political harmony and ensure adherence to the laws and the Code of Conduct.

“It is our job, as a neutral and independent Commission of Parliament, to hold politicians accountable on behalf of all Jamaicans,” said Political Ombudsman Donna Parchment Brown in a statement.

“We can’t do this alone, we need to work closely with all of our partners and other community leaders, and that’s what today is all about – working together for a better Jamaica,” she added.

The office said JCF liaison officers reviewed the Code of Conduct, guidelines on how to best communicate with it and how they can keep it abreast of activities in their parishes.

Orette Fisher, electoral consultant and former director of elections, last week pitched a solution to the problem of flags and other paraphernalia which remain in constituencies after an election period.

Sharing that he has observed elections in a number of jurisdictions, Fisher said that in 99 per cent of them, the colouring of the space is also a part of the elections.

“But what is done in those jurisdictions is that the local authority has the responsibility to clean up afterwards. For us, I think it’s one of two things: either after the elections, the local authorities must go through and clean up all the areas, or political parties are required to put a fund together, and if they don’t remove the flags, then the fund is used to take them down,” he said.

“It cannot just be left for the political ombudsman to be hitting away and asking, asking. Something has to be in place that would allow for it to be enforced,” Fisher said at a Gleaner Editors’ Forum at the newspaper’s downtown Kingston head offices last Thursday.

CURTAILING FREE EXPRESSION

Senior lecturer in the Department of Government at The University of the West Indies, Mona, Dr Christopher Charles, pointed out that in Jamaica, if you want to mount something on a utility pole, there are established procedures through the parish council to do so.

“We do not encourage political parties to apply to mount these flags. All we hear is that you can’t put up a flag. That is curtailing people’s right to free expression,” he said. “I don’t see anything wrong with mounting a political flag of any colour as long as the person gets approval.”

Political Ombudsman Donna Parchment Brown agreed that where people have a permit, it should not be an issue once they put up and remove the flags in the appropriate time frame.

“What keeps coming to me is that I live in ‘Community X’, and when I got home this evening, there were flags all along the place, also on my gate post or my light post and I feel like I’m being intimidated … . This is a problem,” the ombudsman explained.

Parchment Brown said there needs to be amendments to the Town and Country Planning Act, which speaks to putting up all forms of advertisements, to specify the duty, considering that local government is also run by politicians.

“In addition, I think there should be included in the code, under the Political Ombudsman Interim Act, fines for breach. So if you’re to take it down within, for example, 30 days, there’s the campaign period that’s defined in the law and so if you have it up outside of the campaign period, there should be a fine,” she said.

judana.murphy@gleanerjm.com

A call has been made for the Office of the Political Ombudsman (OPO) to hold orientation classes and refresher courses for individuals preparing to run for political seats to mitigate some of the utterances made on the platform.

Orette Fisher, former director of elections, made the call during a recent Gleaner Editors’ Forum at the newspaper’s North Street offices in Kingston, while making the point that improper and uncomplimentary utterances from the political podium provided enough evidence that schooling was necessary.

Fisher said he believed it was imperative that newcomers be taught lessons in proper political behaviour, and especially about the provisions of the Representation of the People’s Act and the Political Code of Conduct.

“I think there should be a system where when new caretakers are appointed, that they are required, or be mandated, to meet with the political ombudsman. You don’t wait until they are in the heat of battle, but from they are appointed, and they are instructed on the Political Code of Conduct,” Fisher said.

He was disagreeing with University of the West Indies’ senior lecturer Dr Christopher Charles, a forum panellist, who is of the view that the OPO, by instituting an investigation, was trespassing on the right to free speech by politicians, even if it was untrue but not libellous, defamatory or inciting of violence.

Charles was making reference to a recent utterance by Manchester North West Member of Parliament Mikael Phillips during a constituency conference in August.

Phillips, who had made a divisive remark about supporters of the Jamaica Labour Party, suggesting that none of that party’s members should feel comfortable in the constituency, later apologised for the comments after a public backlash.

Fisher, too, believed an investigation was not the jurisdiction of the OPO, but said it was important that political ‘lessons’ are taught.

“Candidates and caretakers are subject to change from time to time. So this is something that should be considered,” Fisher said.

He was supported by University of the West Indies student youth leader David Salmon, who was also a panellist.

Salmon said it was important that such classes are held, especially for politicians active on social media.

“We must make the demarcation between freedom of speech and responsible speech … . We have to see that, as people who agree that elections should be conducted in a responsible way, then you need to set a standard for the way people express themselves,” argued Salmon.

“I do believe that for persons interested in public office, there should be sessions done by the Political Ombudsman’s office, in terms of what is and what is not acceptable (speech). They need to know that they don’t need to use certain language to express themselves, because there are young people who are interested in the process, and are mindful of what is said,” Salmon told the forum.

He did not believe the (investigation) by the political ombudsman was an encroachment on freedom of speech.

“Responsible speech has to be the priority,” he stated.

Political Ombudsman Donna Parchment-Brown said her office looks to the leaders of the political parties to set the tone for political best practices.

“They are expected to be the primary purveyors, promoters, and activists in support of good governance, the rule of law and a clean democracy in Jamaica. I look to the prime minister and leader of the opposition to speak positively of the institution, to actively encourage their members to understand the rules and to make their members available when we request them for classes, for meetings, for fora, so that they may strengthen their internal democracies,” urged Parchment-Brown.

Her office was available to provide the information, she said.

Meanwhile, she defended her office’s decision to ‘investigate Phillips’ comment, which she said was in keeping with code eight of the Political Code of Conduct.

While being of the view that the office was not intended to deal with internal politics, she said it “might” be covered as members of parliament and councillors and caretakers are bound by the code. The office is in contact with the leadership of the PNP and concerns have been raised regarding Phillips’ comments.

I would like to respond to Paul Clarke’s story ‘Ombudsman’s office threatening free speech, says social scientist’ ( Gleaner, September 30, 2019) and clarify what the political ombudsman does and how it does it.

As the political ombudsman for Jamaica, I absolutely support freedom of speech.

It is the laws of Jamaica and the Agreement and Declaration on Political Conduct that stipulate what utterances breach the broad span of this freedom.

In most modern democracies, including our own, the right to say something is always to be balanced against the effect of the words on a particular audience. While the physical expression of the partisanship of yesteryear is no longer virulent here in Jamaica, harmful words proliferate in political space and social media. The current situations in the United States and the United Kingdom offer a cautionary tale about political rhetoric and potential harm to individuals, groups and our democracies.

That is why we have a parliamentary commission, the Office of the Political Ombudsman, and a Code of Conduct which both parties have signed to ensure standards in politics. The fourth principle of the code is devoted to public utterances, proscribing party officials from making statements that are inflammatory or likely to incite others to confrontation, defamatory, or malicious in reference to opposing candidates, their families and party officials.

So it is not just any utterance, but also the context in which it is delivered and understood. That is what my office investigates. We do so in a way that follows the Political Ombudsman (Interim) Act and the laws of Jamaica.

Discussion of differences of opinion in the public space between state, civil society, politicians and media is vital for a democratic society. May the conversation continue!

DONNA PARCHMENT BROWN
Political Ombudsman
politicalombudsman@opo.gov.jm