The Ombudsman is proposing amendments to the Veterans Act to include the Children of the Liberation Struggle and have the group benefit from projects established under the Veterans Fund.

The recommendation by the Ombudsman's office follows a complaint received by it from volunteer cleaners at the Health Ministry.

The volunteers expressed their dismay at the fact that members of the group were given permanent employment within the ministry, considered ahead of them and without having to go through the required public service recruitment process.

In his most recently released annual reports, Ombudsman Basillius Dyakugha recommended that the government and its agencies assist the "Children of the Liberation Struggle" to register companies and apply for fishing rights.

He also encouraged the group to apply for group resettlement under the Land Resettlement Programme.

The advice contrasts with that of Dyakugha's predecessor, John Walters, in 2020, when he wrote to the Secretary of Cabinet, advising that Cabinet refrain from issuing instructions to public service offices and not to employ members of the "Children of the Liberation Struggle" without them having gone through the formal recruitment process.

Walters followed that up by approaching the High Court and successfully calling for it to set aside a decision by Cabinet to give preferential consideration to members of the group.

He stated, in his recommendations, that the government look for other ways to assist the "Children of the Liberation Struggle", adding that the group has relied for too long on preferential treatment in recruitment.