By Grace Q. Bryant
President Joseph Boakai, over the weekend, appointed Cllr. Finley Y. Karngar as Chairperson of Ombudsman.
Ombudsman is a person who investigates, reports on, and helps settle complaints.
It can be recalled that former President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf issued Executive Order No. 83 pertaining to the Office of Ombudsman.
According to an Executive order release, “Article 90 (c) of the 1986 Constitution of Liberia empowers the Legislature to prescribe a code of conduct for all public officials and employees, stipulating the acts which constitute conflict of interest or are against public policy, and penalties for violation thereof.”
Executive Order No. 83 noted: “Whereas, consistent with the constitutional provision above, the Legislature on March 6, 2014, passed an Act Prescribing a National Code of Conduct for all public officials and employees of the Government of the Republic of Liberia, which Act was approved on March 31, 2014, and published on June 20, 2015 (hereinafter referred to as the Code of Conduct).”
While part XII of the Code of Conduct established the Office of Ombudsman as an independent autonomous body with responsibility to enforce, oversee, monitor, and evaluate adherence to the Code of Conduct.
The Executive Order further notes: “Whereas, it has been observed that the Code of Conduct did not provide details pertaining to the Office of Ombudsman, including qualification and tenure of the Ombudsman, which, amongst other things, have made it difficult to appoint suitable persons to the Office of the Ombudsman, and thus begin implementation of certain provisions of the Code of Conduct. That whereas, in the exercise of the Executive Power vested in the President by the Constitution, the President may issue executive orders in the public interest, either to meet exigencies or address particular situations, which cannot await lengthy legislative processes.”
“Now Therefore, I, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia, by the power vested in me, do hereby establish, by this Executive Order and for the purpose of the foregoing, set out below, with specificity matters pertinent to the office of the Ombudsman for the enforcement, oversight, monitoring and evaluation of adherence of the Code of Conduct.”
Section 5 (a) (b) (c) and (d) of Executive Order No. 83 highlights the composition of the Office of Ombudsman; appointment of three persons through a gender-sensitive lens with the consent of the Senate – one of whom will be appointed as Chairperson; the qualification; Term of Office; and Removal from Office.
Meanwhile, Section 6: (a) (b) and (c) encapsulate the Role of the Chair; Delegation of Powers; and Decision Making. The decisions of the Office of the Ombudsman shall be by simple majority in all administrative hearings and shall be in writing.
However, in 2017, President Sirleaf also appointed former Police Director, Christian C. Massaquoi, as Chairman, and Attorneys Edward Dillon and Massa Jallabah as members, but did not take effect; therefore, when Cllr. Kangar takes over the position, he will be the first to occupy since the passage of the Code of Conduct
