Country without ombudsman even after 21 months

With no federal ombudsman appointed for the past 21 months, the fate of 42,139 completed inquiries against various departments hangs in the balance and no relief has been provided to complainants – thanks to the blithe attitude on part of the Presidency to fill the vital accountability post.
The appointment of ombudsman is an obligation for the president under Article 7 of the 1983 Order.
However, the important accountability slot is lying vacant following the completion of tenure of the last federal ombudsman, Javed Sadiq Malik, who retired on October 27, 2010, and the absence of ombudsman has resulted into piling up of thousands of files at the ombudsman office.
The post cannot be kept vacant for an indefinite period due to its public importance and also due to the pressure by donor agencies for installing an effective accountability system in the country. In the absence of the federal ombudsman, the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat has come to a complete standstill. The ombudsman performs as a principal accounting officer, besides performing all statutory functions, including administrative and financial sanctions, particularly with reference to release of funds, incurring of expenditures, re-appropriation of funds and grant of salaries to contractual employees.
To add fuel to the fire, Federal Ombudsman Secretary Ahmed Bakhsh Lehri was transferred last week, leaving a huge question mark on the government’s commitment towards the accountability process in the country.
A well-placed source told Pakistan Today that the federal ombudsman, the only body directly receiving the complaints from the public against malpractices of the government institutions, had received 66,903 complaints to date, of which the department had investigated 42,139. “All the 42,139 inquiries, after investigation, are complete and the same have been put on the table of the federal ombudsman for approval. But since no one has been appointed to the important slot, the good work done by the department is unfinished,” the source said, adding that the poor complainants mostly from far-flung areas time and again visited the federal ombudsman office, but to no good. “We just need a formal approval by the ombudsman but since the post is lying vacant since October 26, 2010, no development has taken place and no relief has been provided to the complainants.” Accountability is one of the major compulsory components of any democracy and its presence is required to promote and protect the societies of third world countries like Pakistan.
Under the law, the federal ombudsman enjoys maximum powers under a presidential order governing the office, and its powers cannot be delegated to its subordinates. However, the president can delegate his powers to anyone to make the office functional. But to date, no such step has been taken.