A LONG-serving legal counsel from the Ombudsman Commission has raised concerns that the referral of a number of leaders by the Commission may be unconstitutional given that there were only two Ombudsmen determining their fate.
The Constitution says there should be three, according to Howard Maliso, who has been a lawyer with the commission for a number of years, and recently he was appointed as an acting Ombudsman Commissioner but his appointment has been stayed by the National Court pending a judicial review. In a media statement yesterday, Mr Maliso said all the recent referrals by the Ombudsman Commission were unconstitutional. "Referral of leaders and other major constitutional decisions under the Leadership Code by quorum of the two sitting Ombudsmen are unconstitutional and without jurisdiction unless the Supreme Court determines and affirms the constitutional validity as a matter of urgency," he said Mr Maliso said there were two constitutional questions that should be first determined as a matter of urgency to affirm the validity of the referrals made by two Ombudsmen. The two questions are: Whether there is a real or perceived compromise of independence between the two Ombudsmen in the absence of a third Ombudsman; And whether there is a real or perceived advantage taken by the chief ombudsman who has double voting power under section 14(5) of the Organic Law over the single colleague Ombudsman in the absence of a third Ombudsman. He gave three facts to his argument, citing a position of conflict of interest by the Chief Ombudsman when he announced his interest in the reappointment of the second Ombudsman for a second term, the period of quorum by the two ombudsmen which is over extended when quorum is momentary and restricted and the two are still making prima facie conclusions against leaders and referring them to the public prosecutor’s office in the absence of the mandatory commission. "Leaders are mandated by the people through an expensive electoral process and they should not be cheaply treated inside the Ombudsman Commission in suspicious circumstances," Mr Maliso said. "The Ombudsman Commission is a constitutional office with a highly elevated status above all other constitutional office, and is mandated to carry independence and integrity about itself. "This is not the case anymore," Mr Maliso said. The Ombudsman Commission could not be reached yesterday for comment. PNGFacts/PostCourier Comments are closed.
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