Committee chair to block OCC merger

Ezzard Miller in the LA (Photo by Dennie Warren Jr)

(CNS): The chair of the oversight committee that deals with the Office of the Complaints Commissioner has made it clear he will be using his casting vote to oppose the planned fusion of that office with other oversight authorities. Ezzard Miller said that the parliamentary committee, which includes government members Roy McTaggart, Alva Suckoo and opposition members Eugene Ebanks and Bernie Bush, was equally divided on the issue but he opposed the merger because it would be a backwards step.

Government has plans to create a new supra-ombudsman as part of its rationalization of the civil service. Almost the only announcement of a specific change government plans to make emerging from the public sector review, the proposal is opposed by the Information Commissioner’s Office as well as the complaints commissioner and so far, with only negligible proposed saving to the public purse, the real motivation for this fusion is not clear.

Presenting the OCC’s 2013/14 Annual Report to the parliament on Wednesday, the North Side independent member said, ”As chairman with the casting vote I want to record publicly that I oppose the fusion of the OCC as I believe that is going to be a backward step and reduce the role and effectiveness of the office.”

Speaking about the report, he commended the small team and the hard work they had put in during that financial year, despite working “under unnecessarily difficult circumstances with staffing”.

Encouraging members to read the report, he raised two other concerns: the failure of government to pass the whistleblower law, as recommended in an Own Motion by the OCC and the way the last commissioner’s contract was handled.

“The Oversight Committee continues to lament the absence of whistleblower legislation, although as chairman I was roundly chastised and the country assured in April last year in Cayman Brac that the whistleblower legislation was imminent and ready to be presented to parliament. Over a year has elapsed and we have not heard anything about it, so I would encourage the CIG to bring forward the legislation,” Miller told the members.

He also said that on behalf of the committee he wanted to place on record their disappointment over the handling of Nicola Williams’ contract by the government. “I think the job that she has gone to in the UK government certainly indicates her value and what a loss it has been to this country,” Miller stated.

After failing to receive any news about the renewal of her contract up to and including the day it expired, Williams began looking for other opportunities and, as a result, landed a heavyweight post with the UK’s Ministry of Defence as its service complaints commissioner.

The annual report gives a snapshot of some of the work the OCC undertakes, with some 87 complaints received that year in connection with a cross-section of government, though the immigration department appears to top the list.

See Annual Report and other OCC reports