Political Ombudsman Donna Parchment Brown has made a plea for more resources to be given to the office she has held since November 2015.

“I have a communications adviser, she is a volunteer given to me by a foreign country [for six months]. That post was not in the establishment when the office was established, and those are some of the resources that we are fighting to get. In the last by-elections (Portland Eastern, in April), there was a complaint that there was so much negative on social media and [that] I have the resources to deal with that. I do not have the resources to deal with that,” she said at a Gleaner Editors’ Forum last Thursday.

She said that the Organisation of American States observed the 2016 general elections and described the office as a good initiative that could be modelled elsewhere.

“It’s a tiny staff. The ombudsman is supported by two administrative staff and three support staff. There is space to hire an attorney; the investigator is also in the establishment. I will be hiring an attorney as soon as possible,” she said.

Parchment Brown believes that it is also her role to improve public education about the office and to reduce the perception that it is only active during elections.

“In the budget, I will be putting in a request for a communications capability within the office and funding for a number of events in the public space, funding for paid advertising in the media, and I’ll also be going to the media for PSAs (public service announcements). We want to be able to develop professional material that’s out there so people understand that it’s a 24/7 matter to build a decent country,” the ombudsman explained.

Former Director of Elections Orette Fisher asserted that with political parties now registered under the Political Party Registration Act 2014, the ombudsman’s office needs to be expanded.

“I am of the view that the office does not have jurisdiction over internal election. I think that the office of the ombudsman could be strengthened in that regard to provide jurisdiction because I don’t think the parties should be held to any lesser standard, than what obtains for a national election. I think they should be held to the same standard and therefore, any suggestions of vote-buying or treating should be open to some form of investigation for the party to remain registered, he said.”

University of the West Indies student David Salmon, the youngest of the panellists at the forum, suggested that the political code of conduct carry greater penalties.

Currently, offences with liability on conviction for breaches of the code in the parish court is a modest $50,000 or six months imprisonment, or both.

“The office should be expanded to include an investigative branch that can eventually make recommendations to the DPP director of public prosecutions) for prosecution. That is where we need to go – we need to empower the office so that it can be effective in its mandate,” Salmon asserted.

Fisher sided with Salmon: “The mechanism to investigate some of these things is just not there, and so I think it would be an opportunity for strengthening the electoral process.”

judana.murphy@gleanerjm.com

The idea and practice of vote buying is nothing new to the political landscape in Jamaica, but former director of elections, Orette Fisher, said the practice has got worst over the years.

“I don’t think vote buying has morphed, I think it has worsened. What used to happen still continues but it has evolved. When I was a child growing up, politicians used to give people things like flour and so on, but people are demanding more expensive things now for their vote,” Fisher shared at a Gleaner Editors’ Forum last week at the media house’s North Street, Kingston, office.

In 2011, a study was done across Jamaica by anthropologist Dr Herbert Gayle, which revealed that there was evidence of vote buying in almost all of the constituencies they canvassed. It also showed that the poorer constituencies were easier to entice.

“Money is definitely a factor in this practice, and sometimes it is done in such a way that it is difficult for you to pinpoint and say that is vote buying. For instance, assisting somebody to get to the polling station with cash, is that trying to influence the person’s vote? There are some real questions that must be asked,” said Fisher.

PEOPLE FEAR FOR THEIR LIVES

Political ombudsman Donna Parchment Brown said she would prefer it be called bribery rather than vote buying.

“Sometimes I do road work, sometimes I deliver black tanks, and sometimes I’m delivering chicken feed – all of these would be an attempt to influence the outcome. The question is, if bribery is an offence, whose job is it to determine so?” she said.

“For example, in direct bribery, where I have had somebody come in and give a statement, I have given that statement to the police to investigate. But here’s the thing, we are living in a country where 66 per cent of people say they have no freedom of political expression, where they fear criminal threats.

“For instance, we see the JUTC (Jamaica Urban Transit Company) taxi situation, which crippled the country for days, so when I make a report to the ombudsman, and she makes a report to the police, am I really going to go to the level where I am in court with John Brown? The fact is that people fear for their lives.”

carlene.davis@gleanerjm.com

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Political Ombudsman Donna Parchment Brown has written to Prime Minister Andrew Holness about reports and observations of what she describes as “egregious conduct” by the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in the Portland Eastern constituency race.

In a letter dated today, Parchment Brown said she made a number of observations during a visit to the constituency on Friday.

She said this includes: a campaign billboard for the JLPs potential candidate Ann Marie Vaz, located within the borders of Western Portland; and the Nonsuch playing field project authorised under the tenure of deceased Member of parliament Dr Lynvale Bloomfield, reportedly being taken over and partly financed by Vaz.

The political ombudsman said she has also observed and or received reports of road works in several communities in the constituency, which have not been approved by the relevant government agencies.

She has recommended that the billboard be removed immediately and that the road works be stopped.

The letter makes reference to a number of other complaints and observations against the ruling party.

Alphea Saunders