04 Mar 2015

Parliament on Monday, March 2 approved without debate Office of the Ombudsman 2015/2016 budget proposal of P26.6 million.

Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration Mr Philip Makgalemele submitted to Parliamentarians that the Office of the Ombudsman requires P22.1 million to be expended in its recurrent budget which, he said, has increased by P3.7 million representing an increase of 20 percent when compared to 2014/2015 financial year.

He said the recurrent budget will cover service personnel emoluments and other charges to cater for salaries shortfall, gratuities, domestic and household requisites, incidental expenses, maintenance of buildings and minor works, and replacement of vehicles amongst many others.

P4.5 million is needed for the development budget which Mr Makgalemele said will primarily be used for refurbishment of the Office of the Ombudsman branch office in Maun.

Mr Makgalemele said the Office of the Ombudsman which monitors governance and democracy continuously recommends remedial action on acts of maladministration committed against members of the public and advises ministries and other government institutions as a way of promoting accountability and transparency in the public sector.

He said during the last financial year the office received and investigated 746 complaints and managed to resolve 473 of the cases. 

However Mr Makgalemele expressed concern on non-responsiveness of ministries and government departments to customer complaints which he said had resulted in low case resolution rate.

The assistant Minister noted that accessibility to the services of the Ombudsman remained a challenge since it was not widely spread out which led to some Batswana failing to gain access on account of poor proximity. 

This, he said was being addressed by opening two new offices in Maun and Tsabong for greater public reach.

Further he reminded legislators that the Ombudsman Act No.5 of 1995 will be amended in order to establish a hybrid entity that would address issues of administrative justice and promote and protect the rights of Batswana thus conferring human rights mandate to the Ombudsman. ENDS