15 Mar 2020

Assistant Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Dumezweni Mthimkhulu has requested over P41.9 million for Office of Ombudsman for financial year 2020/2021.

Presenting the budget proposals to Parliament on March 13, Mr Mthimkhulu said P37.5m was for recurrent budget whilst P4.5m was for development budget.

The recurrent budget, he said, had increased by 6.23 per cent which he attributed that to factors like increment of salaries and allowances, special investigations, provision for performance awards, as well as an increase in postal charges and office supplies due to opening of the Tsabong office.

Mr Mthimkhulu said the P4.5 million development budget was required for the continued construction of Maun office, indicating that the budget had decreased by 79.5 per cent.

He said the construction of Maun office commenced during the 2019/2020 financial year.

Mr Mthimkhulu said the Office of the Ombudsman was a critical democracy and governance institution which provided checks on possible acts of maladministration by ministries and other government entities.

The office promotes transparency and accountability and generally contributes to Botswana’s good ratings on good governance and rule of law, he said.

On the performance of the office during the financial year 2019/2020, Mr Mthimkhulu noted that the office registered a total of 483 new complaints and 195 were resolved as at November 2019.

He however stated that the office was grappling with a huge backlog of cases from previous years and had in the last financial year recorded a huge reduction of backlog cases. Furthermore, Mr Mthimkhulu said the office had continued to engage and address international stakeholders with a view to exchange best practices and lessons in relation to the mandate and functions of the Ombudsman Institution in Africa and the world.

He said the Ombudsman office participated among others at the International Ombudsman Exposition held in Abuja, Nigeria last year.

He indicated that the exposition was important in that it created a platform where Ombudsman institutions from across the globe could meet to share experiences and come with interventions for the challenges facing the institution.

Commenting on the budget proposal, Member of Parliament for Takatokwane, Mr Tshoganetso Leuwe requested the Office of Ombudsman to take services to the people. He said the public especially those in the rural areas needed education on the mandate of the Office. Ends