The Office of the Complaints Commissioner was questioned on its sponsorship of sporting events at the recent sitting of Finance Committee.
Bodden Town MLA Osbourne Bodden brought up the issue about the office’s sponsorship of events.
Acting Complaints Commissioner Susan Duguay said they have a very small advertising budget to educate the public about the Office of the Complaints Commissioner.
‘We maximise the budget by subscribing to the sponsorship of particular events,’ she said. These events include cricket and hockey, Mrs. Duguay noted.
Mr. Bodden asked how much so far has been expended on this sponsorship.
Ms Duguay said the budget request for this year is $5,000.
She also noted that there are six staff members in total at the office.
George Town MLA Alfonso Wright asked the Acting Complaints Commissioner if they considered sports sponsorships as necessary. ‘The office was set up to deal with matters relating to the civil service, and hockey is not watched by the majority of people here,’ he said. ‘I don’t know that hockey is reaching the people we need to reach.’
Mrs. Duguay said it’s not so much about sponsoring a sporting event, but a way to maximise exposure with minimal expenditure.
North Side MLA Edna Moyle asked what benefit or promotion does the office get from CITN saying that Canadian hockey is sponsored by the Complaint’s Commissioner’s Office. This, she said, is a sport Caymanians are not even involved in.
Mrs. Duguay said the goal is to advertise in different media through sporting events such as cricket and hockey. TV offers a package to maximise exposure while minimising cost.
Mrs Moyle asked if they should not be sponsoring local events instead such as swimming and track and field.
Mrs Duguay said unfortunately that is not an option the TV station offered to them, but if there was a package available with those sports they would certainly look into it.
Mrs Moyle suggested that the Complaints Commissioner goes to representatives of the Swimming Association or to those representing track and field to suggest sponsorship of those sports.
Mrs. Duguay said that if those sporting organisations were to go to the TV station and talk about some type of agreement of sponsorship then it would certainly be looked into.
Mr. Bodden said, ‘We feel the Complaints Commissioner’s Office is not served well by representing the sponsorship of Canadian hockey’.
Leader of the Opposition McKeeva Bush said the only reason the government MLAs were quibbling and complaining about the issue was because the OCC had the power to highlight complaints against the government the public normally wouldn’t see.
Government Minister Charles Clifford stated, ‘Government hasn’t expressed any problem with the Office of the Complaints Commissioner’ and told Mr. Bush to behave better. He said they were only asking questions, as they were entitled to do.
Government Minister Arden McLean noted that no disappointment or anything of that nature had been expressed about the Complaints Commissioner’s Office, nor had anything been expressed about them investigating the government. Mr. McLean suggested that the office should have been around during the time of the previous government, from 2001 to 2005.
He stated, ‘No member of the PPM is afraid of any investigation. They (MLAs) have the right to ask questions and if the opposition wants to ask questions, let them ask them.’
Mr. McLean said the Leader of the Opposition could not make such accusations, and asked him to withdraw it, but Mr. Bush said he would not and that his government had been an open book when it had been in power.
Appropriations for the Office of the Complaints Commissioner were passed for the 07/08 budget year – $954,442 for public interest investigations and $8,000 for the Office of the Complaints Commissioner.
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