COI ruling raises questions over officials who lost their jobs

A court ruling that quashed adverse findings against several officials has reopened a bigger question: what happens to those who lost their jobs as a result of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) process?

Counsel Tanya Waqanaika is now pressing the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to act on the implications of the ruling, arguing that the findings against her client can no longer stand.

Ms Waqanaika said her client’s position was that the court decision effectively rendered the Commission of Inquiry report null and void and raised serious questions over the constitutionality of dismissals linked to the process.

She said she met with the JSC last week to push for the commission to recognise the consequences of the court’s decision.

Correspondence was first sent to the JSC in January, when the commission had initially accepted the position before later rejecting it, she said.

“We wrote to them, and now they are doing it again,” Ms Waqanaika said.

However, she stressed that her client was not seeking a simple return to her former position after the ordeal she had endured.

“There has been a lot that has happened,” she said.

Ms Waqanaika said there was no concrete outcome from her latest meeting with the JSC, but maintained that the Government now had a responsibility to address the consequences of the court ruling.

“They have to do the right thing, especially now that it is an election year,” she said.

She said the impact of the dismissals went beyond employment, with the controversy affecting the reputations, careers and future prospects of those involved.

“Graham-Leung lost his job,” she said.

The court had found that the applicants were not afforded natural justice during the Commission of Inquiry process and subsequently quashed the adverse findings against them.

The ruling has now left the JSC and Government facing a difficult question; if the findings that led to the dismissals have been quashed, what should happen to the people whose careers were affected?

For Ms Waqanaika, the issue is no longer simply about the original CoI findings, but about what the authorities do next.