DISCUSSION raged yesterday over the president’s rejected applicant for the office of Ombudsman, the academic Andreas Kapardis.
The House of Representatives rejected on Thursday the Cabinet’s decision to appoint Kapardis. 17 AKEL MPs voted in favour of the post and 35 MPs from the rest of the parties voted against.
A key sticking point for the house was the issue of Kapardis’ neutrality.
“Someone who takes so many important decisions has to be completely impartial. Kapardis has co-operated with the police and prisons and supported the president’s candidacy – this fact would have given a portion of the population the impression that he wasn’t autonomous,” DISY’s Christos Pourgourides said.
Pourgourides was referring to Karpadis’ service as governor of the Central Prisons.
AKEL’s Nikos Katsourides put a different spin to Karpadis’ background by criticising parties’ unwillingness to accept any AKEL-friendly candidate.
“The only reason he wasn’t approved is because he has been a supporter of the president of the republic. Basically, they wouldn’t accept any president supporters,” he said.
“The president ought to have suggested someone else,” said DIKO’s Andreas Angelides who criticised Christofias’ insistence on Karpadis. “The parliament did not want this candidate… (but) the President insisted,” he said.
“Just because there was a disagreement on this does not mean that we are trying to undermine the government,” Angelides added.
He was echoed by Green party leader George Perdikis, who queried: “Why wasn’t [Kapardis] rejected immediately?
“No one wanted him…he should have been rejected from the very beginning,” he said.
The Cabinet had decided on December 28 to appoint Kapardis to succeed Iliana Nicolaou, whose term as Ombudswoman expired that month.
Kapardis was recommended by Christofias. The cabinet’s decision was treated with hostility by the rest of the parties who said that the government had not consulted them regarding Kapardis’ nomination.
“Karpadis’ rejection was a normal consequence of failing to consult the House of Representatives according to the law’s letter and spirit,” EDEK’s Giannakis Omirou said.
Kapardis himself remained stoical on the House’s response to his candidacy. “Democratic institutions’ decisions merit full respect,” he said, thanking President Christofias for his nomination.
The office of the Ombudsman works on the public’s behalf by investigating people’s complaints against governmental organisations and individuals. The Ombudsman is meant to be an independent arbitrator of disputes between the public and the government.
