Complaints Commission Offices Need Bigger Budgets

Mossel… “The issues that many of the offices are dealing with is that oftentimes they are not given the proper budget, they are not given the proper office staff that is needed to do the work.”

Complaints Commission offices across the Caribbean are being stifled of a proper budget, making their tasks to investigate allege government misdeeds arduous, this according to Gwendolein Mossel, Ombudsman for Sint Maarten and President of Caribbean Ombudsman Association (CAROA).

Mossel, who was accompanied by her secretary general, Randolf Duggins, made the revelation during an interview with reporters at the TCI Complaints Commission Symposium at the Jericho Baptist Church, Auditorium in Providenciales on March 28.

The two were invited by recently-appointed Ombudsman for the Turks and Caicos Islands Rita Gardiner, to make presentation at duo of symposia in Grand and Providenciales respectively.

“The issues that many of the offices are dealing with is that oftentimes they are not given the proper budget, they are not given the proper office staff that is needed to do the work,” she said.

Gardiner… “We have many more workshops planned for the Turks and Caicos.”

“So, that is kind of an issue that we see around in the Caribbean, where they are limited to do their task. And so, we are trying to create awareness, and the more people who come with complaints, the more importance of having an ombudsman (office),” she continued.

She the TCI Constitution demands that a complaints commission be put in place to bring awareness to the people of these islands.

“You have a new complaints Commissioner, and what we did here today was to elaborate on the task and the role of the ombudsman in the society, and bringing awareness that there is a complaints commission where you can go to free of charge, if you have any complaints or any issues with government. They will investigate in a fair and transparent manner,” she assured.

Explaining the role of the complaints commissioner/ombudsman, Mossel said:

“What we do as ombudsman, we investigate and file complaints against government. We look at the conduct and the behavior in their dealings with the public and we do that based on principles of proprieties and proper conduct.

“So when we do our investigations, we will then look to see how the government acts…was it proper or not. We would then write our report, and at the end we would give a judgement, whether it was proper, whether it was improper, and then we would give recommendation to government, how to improve.”

Randolf Duggins, Secretary General in the Office of the Sint Maarten Ombudsman

She added: “Anybody could file a complaint…you could be an immigrant, you could be a tourist…anyone can file a complaint.”

However, Mossel said the office of the ombudsman/complaints commission does not investigate civil disputes, just government activities.

In the meantime, Gardiner told reporters that her new role as complaints

commissioner/ombudsman, was not foreign to her, as she once headed the Gender Affairs Unit, which also required investigation, noting that the ombudsman role was more specific.

“Taking on this role, I know that I have big shoes to fill, because we are talking about Cynthia Astwood (the previous complaints Commissioner), we are talking about Mr. Charlie Been, been the first complaints Commissioner, and Albert Williams…who used to be the financial secretary for government, and he was the second one (complaints commissioner). Then you have Miss Gene Williams…(I have) great shoes to fill, but I am up for the challenge,” Gardiner asserted.

A section of the audience at the TCI Complaints Commission Symposium at the Jericho Baptist Church on March 28.

Gardiner pointed out that since a great deal of the TCI populace did not know the role of the Complaints Commission, her first task was to create public awareness, revealing that the symposium, which saw a number of government representatives in attendance, was one of those awareness campaigns.

“…And we have many more workshops planned for the Turks and Caicos,” said Gardiner.

Prior to the Providenciales symposium, a similar event was held in Grand Turk on March 27.

Meanwhile, CAROA, according Mossel, enables the ombudsman from across region to come together to discuss best practices and to facilitate ideas.