It's been 7 days since the former Ombudsman, Gilbert Swaso demitted office after his contract was not renewed. There is speculation that the reason for the non-renewal is that Swaso recommended that the AG release information on how much the government paid to Marine Chambers and Courtenay and Coye law firms.
But today Minister Fonseca said that the government is not obligated to renew his contract after his tenure is over. He added that before the end of the month, a new Ombudsman should be appointed.
Francis Fonseca, Minister of FAFT
"I don't know where, you know, people came to the conclusion that these things are automatically renewed. I don't know where that came from. Why is it that, I mean, you have the honor and privilege of serving as the ombudsman for, what, four years or, I don't know the term. You know, the ombudsman is a good friend of mine of. I like him, I respect him, but none of us have, any right to any position. He served I think he served well, and he did his job. So I think the government's view was, you know, he did his job, it's time to get someone else to to to carry out that function. I don't see that there's any obligation to renew a contract."
Courtney Menzies:
"But now, the office remains empty because there's no succession plan in place."
Francis Fonseca, Minister of FAFT
"Man, please. I know you're young, but just check with Jules. You remember under the UDP administration, we didn't have an ombudsman I think for two years. Two years. We didn't have an integrity commission for 2 or 3 years. We didn't have a contractor general for years. We seem to have forgotten these things. An ombudsman will be appointed very shortly. We've had the Christmas break. His contract came to an end the end of December. It's what, the 7th of January. It's been one week that we don't have an ombudsman. I can assure you that before, probably before the end of the month, we will have an ombudsman in place. So you know that that should not be an issue."
