Parliament has taken the first steps to weaken the powers of the Ombudsman Commission and establish a parliamentary Ombudsman committee that will have powers to make inquiries of its own.
Parliament yesterday voted 83-0 to amend section 27(4) of the Constitution to remove the powers of the Ombudsman issuing directives to ministers and heads of departments.
Section 27(4) allows the Ombudsman to issue directives to prevent payments out of public fund, or trips by MPs, or other actions by these office holders if it (the Commission) feels impropriety is involved.
For example, the Commission has, in the past, used this provision to stop MPs taking overseas trips when it felt the trips were a waste of public funds.
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