13 Nov 2017

In an effort to effectively reach out to members of the public, the Office of the Ombudsman has over the past decade established offices in various areas around the country.

Addressing a kgotla meeting in Morwamosu recently, deputy Ombudsman, Mr William Moncho said after their first office became fully operational in 1997, another one was opened about two years later in Francistown.

He said while another one was opened in Maun last year, they were expecting to cater for the western region through a Tsabong based office later this year.

The intention, he noted, was to bring their services closer to the people to increase awareness of their mandate and enhance its execution thereof.

He noted that the Office of the Ombudsman was established after government realised that some people occupying public offices were abusing their powers to serve their interests. He said even though the police were there to investigate criminal matters, there was need for a different department that could keep an eye on the administration in government departments and parastatals.

He urged members of the public to come forth with cases that they suspected might warrant maladministration so that they could be investigated thoroughly. He encouraged them to be clear when lodging such cases for the investigations to be successful. However, he appealed to residents to be respectful to service providers even when they were sometimes subjected to unsatisfactory service.

Furthermore, Mr Moncho explained that his organisation did not take away the mandate from different departments. He said they also upon investigation, usually refer cases to relevant departments for action. However, he noted that the Office of the Ombudsman would interfere when they realised that investigations by other departments were taking longer than necessary or when the client was not given feedback on time.

He said even though their service standards stipulated that they should have completed investigations within five months, they sometimes go beyond that depending on the complexity of the case and availability of information needed for investigations.For their part, Morwamosu residents said they were grateful for government’s efforts to bring services closer to them.

One of the residents, Mr Gabatshwane Phori commended government departments for visiting their village to raise awareness on services offered, something which he said would help them understand government procedures better and enhance developments in their area. BOPA