Laws to be used by OC governing MPs delayed

By LULU MARK
WHILE many laws have been passed governing private citizens, those to govern Members of Parliament and to be used by the Ombudsman Commission (OC) have been delayed, an official says.
Chief Ombudsman Richard Pagen expressed disappointment for what he believed was an unnecessary delay by Parliament in passing key amendments to enabling laws for the OC.
He urged MPs to pass the bill when Parliament resumed next month or in the following two sittings.
Pagen said the first OC legislative review, which stared in 2013, was completed in 2020 with the amendment document presented to the Government in January followed by the issuance of the certificate of necessity in July of that same year but nothing had been done about it since.
He said the OC pushed for the Government to take the bills through in July but it did not get through in the August nor the November sittings and was only introduced last week.
“The OC is not happy with the way the Government is addressing the relevant laws that affect this institution,” he said. “The very law that governs the conduct of the leaders are the laws that govern the work of the OC.
“By passing this law you can confidently go and tell the people that you actually make laws to fight corruption otherwise it will be seen that you have not made enough laws that can govern your conduct.
“All the laws that you made are made for private citizens but you have not made a law to govern yourself as MPs.”