By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

THE government's budget allocations for the Office of the Ombudsman and the Independent Commission of Investigations were defended yesterday by Attorney General Ryan Pinter - who said there are “adequate provisions” in the 2025-2026 budget.

Speaking in the Senate yesterday, Mr Pinder said the budget allocations were “placeholder” funding for new employees would be allocated from the Ministry of Finance’s $11m allocation for new hires, not the Attorney General’s Office.

“Now, before I conclude, I want to address some of the comments on the budget allocations for both the Ombudsman and the Independent Commission of Investigations. We have seen criticisms of the allocations in budget head seven, which is the Attorney General's head for these newly implemented or to be implemented institutions, and I would like to take the opportunity to clarify this. Colleagues should note that funds in the budget, especially for newly constituted institutions, are effectively placeholder,” said Mr Pinder.

“New hires, for example, for the Office of the Ombudsman and the Independent Commissioner of Investigations will not be found in head seven under the allocations they will be sourced from the global provision line in the Ministry of Finance. Their budget, which is approximately $11m, that's where all new hires are located. Every new hire in the budget, the pen doesn't matter which agency it is, are found in the global provision line item of the Ministry of Finance. That's where they're found.”

Mr Pinder said the facilities have already been secured and they will be located in the new Supreme Court judicial complex, expected to break ground this year, and the preparatory work on the building has already been completed by the government’s property holding SPV, Poinciana SPV Limited.

“It should be noted that the facilities for each of the institutions are already secured. One of them will be part of the complex… and the payment for those facilities are found in the public services line item. The public service is responsible for paying for all accommodations of the government. So you're not going to find that in the Office of the Attorney General line,” said Mr Pinder.

“I want to be very clear, there are adequate provisions in this budget for these institutions as new institutions. Those allocations are found in other line items throughout different ministries. That's just how the budget functions. That's how the budget functions.”

The Organization for Responsible Governance (ORG) criticised the government for failing to invest in transparency and provide adequate funding for key areas such as the implementation of FOI, the Office of the Ombudsman and newly-established Independent Commission of Investigations.

ORG said the $140,000 allocated to FOI, which is far below the $1m estimated to operationalise the law.

The Office of the Ombudsman has been budgeted $39,890 for the upcoming fiscal year, the Independent Commission of Investigations has been allocated $30,000 and the Public Disclosure Commission was allocated $80,000.