a halt after Parliament repeal

Vanuatu ombudsman grinds to a halt after Parliament repeal

By Patrick Decloitre

VANUATU’S official

watchdog, Marie-Noelle Patterson, early August warned she couldn’t investigate complaints any more because of the repeal of her frame work legislation by parliament.

Last November, a vengeful Parliament scrapped the ombudsman Act introduced in 1995, amidst numerous reports from Patterson accusing top leaders in Vanuatu of corruption, misuse of funds and mal administration.

The repeal was last June 26 upheld in Supreme Court by acting Chief Justice Vincent Lunabek who stressed the judicia ry could not interfere with the legislative assembly’s decisions. Last July, Vanuatu President Jean-Marie Leye, who appointed Patterson four years ago and defended her on several occasions, finally agreed to sign the repeal after prime minister Donald Kalpokas assured him a new act would come soon to replace the scrapped one.

“The (new) government is committed to transparency, openness and good gover nance and to strengthening the ombuds man’s office”, Kalpokas said. But the new act was not on the latest Parliament extraordinary session’s agenda, which ended on August 11.

“This was supposed to happen before end of (last) June. This did not happen”, Patterson said. Although the Constitution still allows the ombudsman to retain some powers, the repeal affected the day-to-day running of Patterson’s office. “We are fac ing administrative chaos, all our working procedures established in line with the (repealed) act have to be changed”, Patterson said in a statement, adding her jurisdiction was now effectively dimin ished. “(To say this) is over presumptu ous... Who is to say a new act would not contemplate effective procedures?” the Attorney General’s office replied. “This is

a very serious concern. We hope it will be enacted very soon in Parliament”, Patterson said. But until the new act resur faces, and in the legal void, Patterson decided not to investigate new complaints made to her office after June 26, except “urgent” ones. Vanuatu government’s legal office said the ombudsman’s powers were not diminished, despite the repeal of her

framework legislation.

“The jurisdiction of the ombudsman is not diminished, she still retains the consti tutional mandate to make enquiries, to

make findings and recommendations”, the Attorney General chambers said in a release. “She is still not subject to the direction or control of anyone”, the release went on, citing “constitutional safeguards”.

The strongest power Patterson had under the scrapped act was to comply individuals to answer summons during an enquiry.

“If such a person unreasonably avoids the ombudsman’s request, there is little dif ficulty in making an application to the Courts for redress”, the Attorney General argued. ■

Vauatu ombudsman Marie - Nolie Patterson