The Ombudsman has slammed the public administration’s lack of respect towards his office during investigations.
Anthony Mifsud says in the 2020 ‘Ombudsplan’ presented to Parliament that this problem often stems from a lack of understanding of the Ombudsman’s role to defend citizens.
He said this situation often led to confrontations and a lack of cooperation during investigations of citizens’ complaints received by the Ombudsman’s office.
In July, the Ombudsman accused the principal permanent secretary of publishing details about confidential complaints received by his office.
Elaborating further about this lack of understanding, the Ombudsman said this was often seen through the “ignorance” of legal consultants representing public authorities about the office’s legal powers and role.
Public authorities often mistakenly viewed the Ombudsman as an extension of the public service, whose job was simply to implement government policy, when in fact the office’s main role was to protect ordinary citizens, Mr Mifsud said.
The Ombudsman said that when his office’s opinions conflicted with government policy, they were often ignored by the public administration.
Ombudsman not an extension of the public service
Mr Mifsud also lamented the lack of consultation about measures that impacted the public administration, citizens’ rights and his own office.
The Ombudsman said he has not even been consulted about proposed changes to the Ombudsman’s Act needed to satisfy recommendations made by the Venice Commission.
Last year, the commission gave a wide-ranging assessment of measures needed to shake the grip that the Prime Minister’s Office has over key institutions.
The commission had recommended raising the rules of appointment as well as his powers to the constitutional level.
It had noted the “worrying” widespread refusal by the administration to provide information needed for the Ombudsman’s work.
“The Ombudsman cannot be made dependent on enforcing his/her requests for information in the courts in each case,” the Venice Commission said.
The Ombudsman has even faced legal challenges by the government about the office’s authority to investigate complaints. Former Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia had argued that the Ombudsman lacked jurisdiction to hear complaints by army officers who did not resort first to the ordinary remedy granted by law.
After a court dismissed these claims, an investigation published by the Ombudsman found that controversial promotions made by the Armed Forces of Malta shortly after Labour shot to power in 2013 lacked integrity and was intended to “produce a desired outcome”.
Mr Mifsud said one of the main issues that led to the process being simply “a screen for the choice made” was that two of the members on the selection board had been persons of trust without any specialisation in military affairs.
The September 2013 promotions included that of the present commander, Jeffrey Curmi. He leap-frogged from major to brigadier in a matter of months.