Pandemic led to fewer Ombudsman complaints in 2020

The Office of the Ombudsman handled 503 cases in 2020, marking a 15% decreases compared to the previous year.

In its 2020 Annual Report published on Tuesday, the Parliamentary Ombudsman handled 245 of total cases brought in 2020, while the Commissioner for Education presided over 45 cases.

The Commissioner for Health dealt with 106 cases, while the Commissioner for Environment and Planning handled 107.

In total, 80 sustained cases were closed during 2020. From these, the Ombudsman’s recommendations were implemented in 45 of these cases.

In 18 cases, the recommendation was not implemented.

One sustained case is still awaiting an outcome, while 16 other sustained cases saw no recommendation made in the first place.

In terms of complaints, the Office handled 498 enquiries in 2020, 7% less when compared to 2019. In the report, the Office suggests that the major cause of this drop is the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the operations of the institution.

General elections trend

The Office of the Ombudsman tends to experience a decline in complaints when an election is approaching. The trend reverses in the first year after a general election is held. This is largely attributed to ‘post-election euphoria’, when more citizens seek direct access to Government for redress.

The table below depicts the number of complaints investigated by the Office of the Ombudsman in years prior to and after a general election is held.

The Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) topped the list of ministries that attracted the largest number of complaints. From the 245 cases received by the Ombudsman, 13% or 31 cases were against a department or authority which falls under the OPM.

The Ministry for Home Affairs, National Security and Law Enforcement attracted the second largest number of complaints received, with 27 complaints. The Energy Ministry experienced the third largest number of complaints, with 20 received from aggrieved citizens.

65% of the complaints received were related to billing issues against ARMS Ltd.

Almost half of all complaints were submitted on allegations of lack of fairness or balance. This while in 20% of cases, the ground of complaint was on undue delay or failure to act.

By end of 2020, 94 of the cases still. Under investigation stood at 168. From these, 94 cases had been open for over nine months.

At 78 cases, the majority of finalised complaints were eventually resolved through informal action. This while 49 cases were deemed to be outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.