The opposition has called on the government to immediately appoint a Commissioner for Consumer Rights and one for Health – the former to investigate the lack of redress that consumers have with regard to ARMS Ltd and the latter to see to the irregularities where patient rights are concerned at Mater Dei Hospital.

Speaking in Parliament on Wednesday, Helena Dalli and Anġlu Farrugia said the appointment of such commissioners should follow in the shortest time possible after the approval of the amendments to the Ombudsman Act, which reflected the agreement reached between the government and the opposition within the parliamentary select committee on strengthening democracy.

Introducing the Bill, Deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg said it empowered the Ombudsman to provide administrative and ­investigative services to specialised Commissioners for Administrative Investigations, and to designate such commissioners as officers of Parliament. Both sides had agreed to strengthen the Office of the Ombudsman in order to enhance transparency and accountability.

The Bill also aimed at increasing the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction to cover all agencies, boards and commissions provided for through public funds.

Dr Borg said that when the government had set up the Injustices Commission and Parliament had set up the Office of the Ombudsman, the citizen had been afforded remedy on administrative issues which were not of a judicial nature. The Ombudsman for the University had been set up in 1997 and the Audit Officer for the Planning Authority in 1999.

The Bill provided for the appointment of the Education and the Planning Commissioners, who would replace the University Ombudsman and the MEPA Audit Officer. Each commissioner would be autonomous but would be able to use all the resources at the Ombudsman’s Office.

Both commissioners would be nominated through a joint proposal by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition – a compromise which Minister Borg described as “a step forward”. If they failed to nominate a commissioner within three weeks since such a vacancy arose, it would be the Ombudsman who would appoint a person in accordance with his own deliberate judgment. The term of office of all commissioners would lapse on the same date.

He said that up to now agreement had always been reached on the appointment of the Ombudsman, and augured the same would also follow on these commissioners. There was also agreement that the Ombudsman would not enjoy executive powers but he could intervene in cases of right of law and non-observance of natural laws. The commissioners would be appointed Parliamentary Officers and their reports would be published together with the Ombudsman’s report.

The board set up under the Police Act, which dealt with complaints, would remain under police jurisdiction.

Helena Dalli (PL) said the opposition was in agreement with the Bill because the Office of the Ombudsman defended the citizen. It would also strengthen the efficiency, transparency and accountability of every public agency, as well as providing one centralised system for people to enquire about their rights and have more access to justice. Public officials would consequently be more cautious in the performance of their duties.

Calling for the appointment of other commissioners, such as a Health Commissioner, Dr Dalli expressed misgivings on the way things were going in the country and asked whether the Maltese were living better in spite of such institutions as the Ombudsman and the Auditor General. Was the Auditor General providing checks and balances effectively?

She recalled that the opposition had decided not to attend the select committee on the strengthening of democracy after the events during the Leader of the Opposition’s motion on the extension of the Delimara power station. Moreover, there were no guarantees that parliamentary questions would be answered.

While creating institutions that strengthened democracy, one should ensure that these functioned properly. Moreover, when the Prime Minister had been asked about the BWSC contract, he had said the opposition should refer the matter to the Auditor General or to the Public Accounts Committee. Yet, the previous Monday, Deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg had said that a matter could not be discussed twice in House plenary sessions, let alone in a House committee.

Dr Dalli stressed that the motion by the Leader of the Opposition had been discussed in the plenary session, but in the PAC the opposition wanted to discuss the auditor’s report, which had not yet been finalised at the time of the plenary session. The government did not want to debate the auditor general’s report on the BWSC.

Accusing the government of various attempts to hide the truth on a number of issues, Dr Dalli praised the Ombudsman for emphasising in his report the need for good administration. This was surely lacking in the way ARMS Ltd was treating the public.

Ċensu Galea (PN) said the Office of the Ombudsman provided anyone with the opportunity to seek redress with confidence, knowing that the institution could be trusted. During the past three years there had been more than 550 cases a year against all government departments – this was a great leap ­forward from past times. The Ombudsman had the responsibility to hear and investigate cases and declare his decision in the shortest time possible.

The report noted that 20 per cent of cases before the University Ombudsman referred to incorrect marking of students’ work in tertiary education, but this was only a small percentage of the total number of students.

Mr Galea said a number of cases in planning referred to situations where persons claimed they had a right to a particular planning permit when in actual fact they did not. He also appealed to Mepa officials to be vigilant and ensure that when issuing permits they acted according to the law. It was imperative that abuse be prevented. Each case had to be evaluated individually and seriously.

PL deputy leader Anġlu Farrugia said that the Bill was the result of the work of the select committee while it was functioning, even though the Ombudsman issue was not a major priority. Matters which were of greater importance, but which the government resisted, were changes to the electoral law, corruption and state financing of political parties. Notwithstanding, the opposition had contributed to the Bill.

He complained that the government was still not providing precise data to Transparency International to enable it to gauge the rate and extent of corruption in Malta. In the corruption index, Malta ranked even behind certain African and Latin American states.

Dr Farrugia said that it was not enough to strengthen the Office of the Ombudsman to increase national integrity. Other institutions, including the media, had to show their integrity by giving the same treatment to identical stories resulting from different administrations. He accused certain freelance journalists as acting as if they were mercenaries intent on safeguarding the government’s interests.

He said that in the select committee, the opposition had wanted to ensure that the Planning Commissioner would feel comfortable to operate under the Office of the Ombudsman, and that he would have the necessary resources at his disposal. The Mepa Audit Officer had had the courage to pronounce himself on the power of incumbency by the party in government before the general election, when Mepa had dished out hundreds of permits at a time when such issue was barred.

There were also some 2,000 cases where the courts had delivered judgment on cases of injustice under PN administrations, but victims had been denied a remedy.

Concluding, Dr Farrugia said one could achieve the best possible public administration through effectively addressing corruption by conducting serious investigations. This also entailed the state funding of political parties in order to eliminate the temptation of corruption by persons and contractors seeking or being awarded public tenders. It was important, he said, not to let these people influence political parties so that any government would be free to administer in a transparent and accountable way.

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