"If I were to rate the effectiveness of the committees I served on, on a scale of 1 to 10, I wouldn’t rate them more than 5," Judge Emeritus Eliahu Winograd said at a conference of the Institute of Internal Auditors in Israel in Tel Aviv today. Winograd chaired the committee that investigated the Second Lebanon War.
Winograd is an advisor to the law firm Gideon Fisher & Co. He added, "All investigative committees suffer from the same problem: they aren’t always effective."
Winograd continued, "Investigative committees have no power to compel the bodies that appoint them to fulfill the committee's recommendations. Although it is assumed that the body appointing the committee will consider its recommendations, it is not obliged to do so. That is the legal situation, and it's quite frustrating for the people doing the work, who know to their regret that the fate of the report is liable to a gentle death. What astonishes me is that these people quickly agree to head another committee."
Winograd cited examples of recommendations by investigative committees that were not implemented, including those of blood donations by members of the Ethiopian community, the broken hoist disaster at the air rescue unit 669, and university tuition.
Commenting on the last committee, Winograd said, "The committee submitted conclusions to gradually reduce tuition. The recommendation was accepted unanimously, including by the Ministry of Finance. In the end, the ministry has shut it ears to this day, and is now even talking about raising tuition at the universities."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on May 27, 2009
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