21 Mar 2023

Ombudsman case resolution rate stands at 40 per cent, says Justice Minister, Machana Shamukuni.

Presenting proposed recurrent and development budget for the 2023/2024 financial year for the office of the Ombudsman recently, Mr Shamukuni told Parliament that during the current financial year, there were 1 074 cases before the Ombudsman, including those carried forward from previous years. 

He said by January 10 this year, 428 cases were completed, representing an overall resolution rate of 40 per cent.

“The office of the Ombudsman is mandated to provide remedies for administrative injustice. The office is also mandated by law to investigate maladministration,” Mr Shamukuni said, adding that the office was concerned with delayed responses, non-responsiveness from ministries and departments. 

He said the Ombudsman had realised that the traditional methods of communication, being kgotla meetings and exhibitions proved to be less effective. 

As such, he said they would enhance the Ombudsman’s social media page to share information to reach out to the public.

As part of the ongoing restructuring exercise, the Ombudsman was developing job effectiveness descriptions for the approved positions, and once completed, the job effectiveness descriptions would be submitted to the job evaluation upper panel not later than April 14 this year.

Meanwhile, Minister Shamukuni had proposed a recurrent budget estimate of over P49.3 million and over P27.1 million under the development budget for the 2023/2024 financial year.

Deliberating on the Ombudsman funding proposals, Selebi Phikwe East MP, Mr Kgoberego Nkawana said he did not support the requested funds as the office was not fully executing its mandate.

Mr Nkawana said the office had restricted itself to Gaborone only, therefore not reaching out to the majority of the populace.

“I would support the propose funds if they were meant for outreach purpose. The Ombudsman must focus on increasing its visibility and increasing its staff and facilities,” Mr Nkawana said.

He was also of the view that the Ombudsman must not only give recommendations but rather ensure that its decisions were enforced.

“Therefore the Ombudsman has to engage more on public education in order for more people to access its services,” MP Nkawana said.

Lerala/Maunatlala MP, Mr Sethabelo Modukanele also highlighted the need for the office of the Ombudsman to take its services to the people. Mr Modukanele however, disputed that the Ombudsman was toothless as perceived by some MPs and other people, saying “the only challenge appeared to be that the Ombudsman was not well known by the community. Those who are aware of what the office offers have fully utilised its services.”

He further encouraged the Ombudsman to act promptly and even initiate own investigations whenever there were suspicions of maladministration and timely resolve issues.

“A typical issue which the Ombudsman could have acted upon was the one relating to multiple grading where some public servants were not upgraded accordingly delaying progression. Some of the cases ended in court and costing government a lot of money,” he said.

Further, Mr Modukanele indicated that even though still limited in its coverage, the Ombudsman currently had an additional responsibility of dealing with issues relating to human rights. He indicated that there were cases where workers human rights were violated by employers.

“Failing to pay someone after doing their job is violation of a human right,” he said, thus urged the Ombudsman to use the limited resources at its disposal to investigate such cases.

He added that the Ombudsman had to act beyond making recommendations and ensure that such were implemented.

Bobonong legislator, Mr Taolo Lucas, said the positive impacts of the mandate of the Ombudsman were yet to be felt by the majority of the populace mostly those residing in rural areas.

Mr Lucas was of the view that currently, administrators at constituency officers were the once overwhelmed by cases of maladministration because the relevant office, the Ombudsman, was not easily accessible.

He said its level of case resolution was low, owing to the 40 per cent of the success rate in resolving cases of maladministration under the current financial year.

“The office is struggling to take off. Government departments and any other office found to be wrong are reluctant to act on their recommendations,” he argued.

Kgalagadi South MP, Mr Sam Brooks said the office should be commended despite the limitations in resolving issues of maladministration. Mr Brooks said the office should be assisted by all means possible to grow in terms of personnel and resources so that it may be able to reach out to all corners of the country.

He also indicated that generally individual members of the public and employees should fully understand their rights and thereby make use of the services offered by the Ombudsman concerning issues of human rights.

Where possible, Mr Brooks urged the office of the Ombudsman to use mobile offices in order to service communities in rural areas.

“Though not well resourced, government will continue supporting the office towards executing its mandate and fully service the people,” Mr Brooks said. Ends