Earlier this week, Minister Francis Fonseca said that the Ombudsman's vacant post would be filled by the end of the month.
But, there's no indication at this point who the new Ombudsman will be. The Leader of the Opposition said the fact that such an important office remains empty is just the PUP's MO.
Tracy Panton, Leader of the Opposition
"That is the status quo of this administration. We didn't have an accountant general for almost two years. We didn't have an auditor general. Now we don't have an ombudsman yet. The Prime Minister continues to tout that they are a government that is committed to transparency and accountability, to oversight. We have not yet seen in an entire term of this administration an audited financial report coming out of the Auditor General's office. We are still reviewing reports that are ten years old. And when I was the chairperson of the Joint Public Accounts Committee, I had I convened a meeting with the Minister of Finance, and when the financial secretary, with the accountant general, with the auditor general to say this system is broken and we need to fix it, and we are ten years behind, let's start working on current reports so that we can monitor where we can improve and strengthen the financial system in this country. And it fell on deaf ears. They have no interest, in my opinion, to provide the kind of oversight that is required when using the people's money."
