Deepa Bhookhun
26 December 2007
Port Louis — Ever written a letter to a ministry or a public officer and never gotten a reply? If you have, you know how faceless bureaucracy can be a source of endless frustration, how, for some, it can even be tragic. There is recourse of course, in case of such problems and one of the only people who can be of help in those cases is the Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman can investigate into any action taken by an officer or authority in the exercise of their administrative functions except the President of the Republic, the Chief Justice, any commission established under the Constitution, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Disciplined Forces Service Commission (DFSC).
The Ombudsman is a safeguard against inaction by public officers. He reminds them in his report that he laid on the table of the National Assembly: "A complaint made by a citizen is not a privilege, which is granted to him (the citizen) but the exercise of his legitimate right. Our democratic system is constantly evolving and good administration is considered as a human right."
Below are extracts of some cases investigated by the Ombudsman Soleman Hatteea and his staff.
A primary school head teacher was promoted as deputy head teacher in March 2002 but realised that her junior colleagues who had been promoted after her, were earning more. She wrote to the Ombudsman and the latter enquired into the matter. "This exercise proved to be a tedious and time consuming one", writes Soleman Hattea. Notwithstanding this, about a year later, the complainant's salary had been adjusted but so were the salaries of hundreds of other deputy head teachers who were in the same situation.
A primary school writes to the ministry of Education and asks for an incremental credit on the strength of her Bachelor of Arts degree. A year later, having received no reply, she queried the ministry about her application and she was informed that there was no such application! She applied again and when she queried again three months later, she was told she would have to wait two years before any decision is taken. At her wits end, she enlisted the Ombusman's help. Three months later, after his intervention, her salary was adjusted, finally.
A former judge of the Supreme Court had written to the commissioner of police to know the fate of his client's complaint in connection with a road accident in which his client was a victim. Six months later, he received no reply from the CP; so, he wrote again but this time copied the letter to the Ombudsman. Five days after Soleman Hattea wrote to the CP, the latter finally replied to the former judge's letter. The former judge confirmed this in a letter to the Ombudsman writing - in a rather sarcastic tone - "I do of course regret having had to bother the Ombudsman but it would seem that one is nowadays left with no choice if one wants to obtain some sort of reply from a Government department." The Ombudsman's comments are: "I hope that all government departments will pay heed to the remark of the former judge."
A detainee was told that his personal belongings had been lost during a transfer from one section of the central prison to another. He brought the matter to the attention of the commissioner of prisons but nothing was done. When he finally wrote to the Ombudsman and the latter inquired, it merged that the belongings had not been lost but merely "misplaced" but had now been retrieved and remitted to the detainee
Interestingly, the Ombudsman also takes it upon himself to initiate investigations into matters printed in the press. An article about a manhole in Port Louis filled with debris and representing a health hazard was investigated into and, after the intervention of the Ombudsman, the manhole was cleared. Other cases relate to pensions not paid, money owned, discrimination, etc. The Ombudsman's work, however, is rendered more difficult when public officers delay in submitting replies to his letters. He invites supervising officers, in his report "to see to it that queries from my Office are dealt with promptly and to give reasons where it is not possible to do so."
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WE WERE ROBBED LAST DECEMBER IN FLIC EN FLAC WHILE HOLIDAYING .IS THERE A WAY TO SEE IF THE OWNER THAT RENT THE BUNGALOW WITH US WITH NO PERMIT IS GOING OR WENT TO COURT AS HE WAS HELD AS A SUSPECT OF THE ROBBERY.
ALAIN FROM SWITZERLAND
I feel proud and honoured by the dedication of the ombudsman. Keep it up. Vishnu