The move by the Holness administration to integrate the Office of the Political Ombudsman into the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) has been given a red flag by the former commission chairman Errol Miller.

Miller, who addressed the Jamaica Teachers’ Association’s 60th anniversary lecture on Thursday (April 4,) highlighted the need to preserve the country’s democracy.

“Just prior to the Local Government Elections, Parliament passed an amendment to the Electoral Commission Interim Act of 2006 that subsumed the functions of the Political Ombudsman into the Electoral Commission and made every electoral commissioner ombudsman or ombudswomen. This is by far the worst legislation affecting electoral laws passed by the Jamaican Parliament since becoming a nation in 1962,” Miller said.

He added that subsuming the functions of the Office of the Political Ombudsman into the ECJ fundamentally alters the commission and brings every commissioner into direct engagement with the minution of partisan politics.

“Adjudicating complaints of interspersed speech, silly public behaviour, disputes about colour, posters, paraphernalia and graffiti in a period of high partisan bravado and emotions in an election campaign and without any sanctions to apply to deviance is likely to diminish respect for both the ECJ and its commissioners. In the past the Political Ombudsman while doing some good was ignored by some candidates and their agents who defied their rulings, disregarded agreements reached, and violated codes of conduct all without consequence. To bring such impunity into the ECJ is grossly unwise,” the former ECJ chairman warned.

Miller further noted making the ECJ commissioners a collective of ombudsmen and ombudswomen is an innovation of very high risk.

“We lionise change but change must be for the better, not the worse. The four selected commissioners could easily be compromised in their role in the constitutionality and also performing the role of political ombudsman. The constituted authority comes into being the day following the announcement of an election and remains in force for six months. Should a political event occur especially before Nomination Day and up to election day selected commissioners would be embroiled in a conflict of office no less if a cabinet minister is found to be involved in open violence and social disturbance, the two things by law are not supposed to happen,” he noted.

Miller said this move would weaken the election centre where all the stakeholders and actors involved in the electoral process meet and resolve issues and issue information.

“In passing this absurd, unworkable, impractical, unprecedented change both the government and the opposition participated in breaking the convention upon which all of Jamaica’s progress since 1979 has been based,” he said.

Miller is now calling for the government and the opposition to rescind the legislation.

The Office of the Political Ombudsman (OPO) was established as a commission of Parliament, to conduct investigations under the provisions of the Political Ombudsman (Interim) Act, 2002.