The independent Office of the Political Ombudsman will on Monday (August 15) celebrate the 20th anniversary of its founding with a virtual international conference to, among other things, come up with strategies to get Jamaicans to better understand their role in improving the governance of the country.

The conference, which begins at 9:30 am, is open to the public and will be streamed live on the Office’s Youtube and Facebook pages.

It is being held under the theme ‘Engaged Citizens, Good Governance and the Rule of Law – Key Pillars of Democracy’.

According to Political Ombudsman Donna Parchment Brown, “over the past few years the Office of the Political Ombudsman has ramped up efforts to get citizens to better understand their role in improving the political and governance structures of the country”.

Said Parchment Brown: “All bodies, including the one I have the honour of leading, work better when citizens at all levels are fully engaged and participating and so we think it is only fitting as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Office of the Political Ombudsman that we address key issues such as accountability, good governance, and the rule of law in political life.”

She added that “these issues are of paramount importance to the Office, which is among the entities mandated to improve compliance with standards for conduct of those in whom trust is placed by members of the public”.

The conference will bring together experts, practitioners, political actors, academia, youth, media, and citizens to foster and exchange ideas for a reset in the context of 20th anniversary of the Political Ombudsman (Interim) Act and as Jamaica celebrates its Diamond Jubilee year of independent Jamaica.

Dr Garry Conille, the United Nations resident coordinator in Jamaica, will deliver the keynote address at the conference which will also hear from Commissioner Kathryn Stone, Order of the British Empire, OBE, Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards in the United Kingdom, Dr Tres-Ann Kremer, Chef de Cabinet of the Caribbean Community Secretariat and Dr Jermaine McCalpin, Associate Professor at New Jersey University.

Other speakers/panelists will include Jeanette Calder, executive director of the Jamaica Accountability Meter Portal, Professor Emeritus Trevor Munroe, the principal director of civil society group National Integrity Action, as well as Professor of Digital Transformation and Governance Lloyd Waller.

The conference comes weeks after the Office of the Political Ombudsman launched a Civic Education Handbook and just over a year after it conducted a Campaign Review Report of the 2020 Parliamentary Election – the first such review in the nation’s history.