Listening to all the recent executive-branch briefings and press conferences on everything from the war to anthrax to tax cuts to new investigative powers, a thought struck me: Who is reporting to President Bush and the U.S. public on the state of our civil liberties?

Of course, our government does have numerous positions charged with maintaining civil liberties and government accountability.

There’s the United States Commission for Civil Rights, most recently in the news for its investigations into the Florida election debacle. The Justice Department has a Civil Rights division. Congress has the General Accounting Office. Most departments have an Inspector General to address intra-departmental issues.

There were 21 special investigations (often á la Ken Starr) of alleged official corruption under the 1978 independent counsel law that Congress mercifully let die. And Wisconsin did have the now-defunct Public Intervener’s Office.

But despite the plethora of offices, there is no central executive charged with overseeing the protection of the rights of the public. There is no Tom Ridge of civil liberties.

At a time when many are raising concerns about the government’s infringement on freedoms and about the equal application of the law, the executive appears to be lacking a prominent figure as eager to advocate for the public’s rights as Attorney General Ashcroft is to advocate for their restriction.

Many countries do have such a figure, an official on par with the Attorney General. On Thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to speak with one such individual, the Ombudsman of the Kingdom of Lesotho.

Henry Mohale Nts’aba comes across as a likeable man. Born in 1925, he helped prepare Lesotho for independence in 1966 and then administered various developmental efforts. He recalls a 1972 water resources trip through the United States, where he “saw more dams than people.”

Since the office’s inception under the 1993 constitution, he has served as the nation’s Ombudsman. He explains that the office was inspired by Namibia’s constitution and based on the Danish model, where the ombudsman does not have prosecutorial powers. Many nations, and even the European Union, have ombudsmen, although their roles and powers differ.

Lesotho’s ombudsman has the power to investigate, to subpoena, to suggest changes in the law, to refer cases for prosecution, and to order compensation. The office’s investigations “may not be interrupted by anyone.”

The office’s mission statement succinctly describes its role: “As an independent institution whose existence is enshrined in the Constitution of the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Ombudsman will protect citizens and the general public against infringement of their rights by public sector agencies.”

Mr. Nts’aba speaks passionately about the duty of his office to stand up for the individual and to say, “this is how we should govern.” He speaks of the importance of the “spirit of the law,” and notes that “if a law is in conflict with the fundamental rights of human beings,” he will refer it to the Supreme Court.

Has he used the bully pulpit inherent in such an office? Mr. Nts’aba estimates he spends nearly half his time on outreach to educate people about their rights, and he tells of a breakfast meeting this coming week with Lesotho’s broadcasters and newspaper editors.

At the same time, he freely admits to the office’s limitations. Unlike other countries, his office does not investigate companies, and it does not engage in a continuous process of discovery; he only pursues complaints brought by individuals or matters of great public interest that are already being debated.

And he tells me that the Ombudsman “operates in an environment that is stable. 1998 was not stable,” a reference to the September 1998 riots which nearly brought down Lesotho’s government and required military intervention. Mr. Nts’aba is familiar with a level of instability that is abstract to most in the United States, and he recognizes the need to deal with “enemy forces.”

Yet when I describe a situation in the United States where 1100 people are detained indefinitely without charge or public notification, he expresses concern, comparing such detentions with the Gestapo and the military regimes of many smaller countries. These individuals “should be brought immediately to a court of law to establish their guilt or innocence.”

A second phone rings, and he excuses himself to speak briefly with the caller in another language. I recall his observation that the United States is a “role model in many areas” and flip the statement as I consider how our country might now benefit from an ombudsman — a prominent official passionate about the spirit of the law and committed to the rights of the individual.

When Mr. Nts’aba returns, I ask him if he likes his job. He laughs. “I wouldn’t say that, but it is a challenge.” In fact, he tells me that the powers given to him by the constitution were at first “frightening.” He will finish his second term as the nation’s first ombudsman in February 2002.

And is all his work worth it?

“People don’t see a possibility of being without it.”

Bryant Walker Smith is a senior majoring in Civil and Environmental Engineering. He can be reached at bsmith@badgerherald.com.