The Inspectorate of Government- IG has launched the ombudsman guidelines to help in the reporting, registration, and handling of complaints from the public.
The IG has three main functions; fight corruption, enforce the leadership code of conduct, and the ombuds role which involves handling cases on the quality of service delivery by public officials as filed by the public.
The guidelines highlight the mandate of the Inspectorate of Government to record and investigate complaints, and the procedures for lodging complaints. Any member of the public aggrieved by the manner in which a public official executes their mandate can file a complaint to the IG through its main office, or electronically via email, or through ombuds persons at the different public offices where they are. Public officials too dissatisfied by the conduct of their superiors can also file complaints and seek redress.
Launching the guidelines on Thursday at Mestil Hotel in Kampala, the Inspector General of Government Beti Kamya said the public needs to know their right to receive quality service and respect from public servants and hold them accountable during their service.
October 12th is marked as the International Ombudsman Day with the aim of educating the public about the role of ombuds. This year, the day has been marked under the theme “Raising citizen’s awareness of the Ombuds role for improved service delivery.
James Onying Penywii, the Director of Research, Education and Advocacy at the IG said that whereas the inspectorate has three functions, the ombud’s role is least known by members of the public. He observed that the public largely knows the IG for its mandate in fighting corruption and not the ombudsman role hence the decision to celebrate the day to raise awareness among the public.
Justice Geoffrey Kiryabwire, of the Court Appeal/Constitutional Court, presented a paper “Alternative Dispute Resolution Strategies and Mechanisms”. In his presentation, Justice Kiryabwire highlighted the benefit of alternative dispute resolution in managing case backlogs in the courts of law.
He said having an active ombuds by the IG shall further limit the number of cases that come to court hence clogging the system as applicants seek justice for their varying disputes. But for the IG to effectively provide the ombuds role, he implored them to make the process easy and cheap, not to lay a burden like that bore on applicants seeking justice from courts of law.
He said the process should be made as informal as possible to avoid the frustrating bureaucracy known in government processes. He also added that in resolving complaints, adopt negotiation and meditation to promote not just resolution of the matter but also foster harmony among the aggrieved parties, and provide a win-win solution rather than a win-lose outcome that results from litigation processes.
Justice Kiryabwire further listed the basic standards of the ombuds that should be considered for the role of the Ombuds to be fulfilled. He said the ombuds must be independent so as to inspire confidence in the public to register their complaints. He also said, that the Ombuds should be neutral and impartial, and there should be confidentiality and informality.
He said that if effective ombuds services, the public shall hold public officials accountable for their actions as office bearers who derive their mandate from the public. This, he said would improve service delivery and motivate the public to fund government programs.
He gave the example of Sweden where taxpayers spend over 60 percent of their salary on tax, and there are no complaints about it. But this, he explained is because they see value for money as the government provides quality education, health care, and other services to the public.
Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja acknowledged the need to raise awareness and empower the public to hold public officials accountable for the quality of service they offer.
She also proposed that incentives be given to people who make reports, especially on corruption, identifying the need to amend the Whistleblowers law to allow a whistleblower to get incentives even when the case doesn’t involve recovery of money.
The current law gives 5 percent of money recovered from corruption cases to a whistleblower. This, Nabbanja said could tempt people to wait until the money is embezzled so that they qualify for the 5 percent and the money is recovered.
An Ombuds or ombudsman is an Independent and non-partisan officer appointed by the government to deal with complaints from the public on administrative injustice and maladministration.
The functions of an ombudsman include; ensuring accountability of government officials in the exercise of their duties, handling complaints of maladministration and injustice, investigating complaints and resolving them or referring them to other institutions such as courts, and establishing long-term solutions to systematic issues.
According to the IG, in the last financial year, the office received 5,000 Ombudsman cases in Ministries, Departments, and Agencies-MDAs with employment disputes and non-payment disputes constituting the biggest form of maladministration in both MDAs and Local Governments. 36 percent of the cases-URN (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [whatsapp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).