12 Aug MESSAGE OF THE OMBUDSMAN
A Fourth Arm of the State
Our ambition in setting up this website is to open a window into the complex role of this constitutional office which can be likened to a fourth arm of the State, charged with keeping a watchful eye on the public services delivered by the armies of public officers working under the orders and supervision of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial arms of the State.
Our work can be summed up as investigating complaints of maladministration, including fraud and corruption and human rights violations, by public entities and officers and making recommendations for remedial action.
In this role, the Ombudsman is neither a judge nor a politician but an independent arbitrator focusing on service delivery at the administrative level.
By working outside the legal system and outside the political arena Ombudsman enjoys a greater scope of action, unconstrained by any political motivation to remain popular or win elections to keep maladministration in check and improve service delivery. The Ombudsman is not a judicial officer; the Office is not a court of law. I do not decide on civil liability or criminal culpability nor can I award damages or punish any fault.
This uncluttered independence from political or judicial constraints gives me the leeway to better appreciate the issues and offer an unbiased, uninterested and independent alternative dispute resolution system, based solely on the grievance complained of and the wider national interest.
The Ombudsman is the only institution with its own procedural code set out in Schedule 5 of the Constitution dictating what I can and cannot do and where I can and must go with the conclusions and findings made in the course of my investigations.
Since the Constitution never intended the Ombudsman to bite, it provides for no teeth. At the end of each investigation, I can only form opinions on the grievance for a limited set of reasons elaborated in Schedule 5 and recommend a course of remedial action.
As the ultimate destination for frustrated citizens with issues with public service delivery, the Office of the Ombudsman remains dedicated to its vision of a public service that is fair, open, accountable and effective – the basic tenets of accountability, transparency and good governance.
Nichole Tirant-Gherardi
Ombudsman