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Ombudsman Malera with her delegation
The Legal Affairs Committee of Parliament in Malawi has been meeting senior officials from various Government Ministries and Departments (MDAs) that have in the last ten years failed to comply with determinations from the Office of the Ombudsman.
Chairperson of the Committee Peter Dimba said the scheduled engagements followed a list of MDAs that the Office of the Ombudsman presented to the committee that had not yet complied with some of its determinations at least in the last ten years.
According to Dimba the development is worrisome, saying since most of the parties to the determinations are poor Malawians who continue to suffer injustice at the hand of the non-compliant MDAs.
He thus disclosed in an interview that each of the summoned MDAs has a month each to comply with the outstanding directives from the Office of the Ombudsman.
“We want them to use the 30 days in finding missing files if they will not find the files they should refer the case files to the office of the ombudsman. Most of the complainants are poor people so we would like to see them getting their dues," he said.
He then acknowledged that some of the matters rest with offices of the Accountant and Auditor General and thus promised to schedule a tripartite meeting with officials from the two offices to appreciate their challenges and chart the way forward.
Ombudsman Grace Malera said separately that most of the non-complied with determinations are on payment of gratuities, compensations, irregular recruitments and reinstatements on to payrolls among others.
She however observed that there are some MDAs that are doing well.
“We have made significant strides in ensuring that Ministries and Departments comply with determinations that come from our office, but there still are some that do not fully comply so we submitted their names to the committee so that it carries out its oversight role of inviting them to explain why they are not complying and agree on action points,” Malera said.
Some of the Ministries that have appeared before the committee are of Natural Resources, Transport and Health.
Meanwhile, the Office of the Ombudsman has also presented its 2023 Annual Report to the committee which presents the activities that the Office carried out in the year.
During her presentation Honorable Malera, informed the committee how the Office has performed in 2023, some of the milestones and challenges that the office registered in the year.
She also outlined to the committee the plans that the Office has for the future which include to continually take the Ombudsman services to the community and intensify Public Awareness.
Source: Office of the Ombudsman, Malawi
