THE COMMISSION ON ADMINISTRATIVE JUSTICE Office of the Ombudsman

Hata Mnyonge Ana Haki

Press Statement for Immediate Release

OMBUDSMAN LAUNCHES FREE TOLL NUMBER AND SMS PLATFORM FOR HANDLING COMPLAINTS

26th May 2015

The Commission on Administrative Justice (Office of the Ombudsman) is a Constitutional Commission established under Article 59(4) of the Constitution and the Commission on Administrative Justice Act, 2011. The mandate of the Commission is to enforce administrative justice in the public sector in Kenya by addressing maladministration through effective complaints handling and alternative dispute resolution. In addition, the Commission has a mandate to safeguard public interest by promoting constitutionalism, securing the observance of democratic values and principles, and protecting the sovereignty of the people of Kenya.

Article 6(3) of the Constitution places responsibility on state organs to ensure reasonable access to their services in all parts of the Republic. To this end, the Commission has taken progressive steps to ensure fulfilment of this obligation.

At the time of effective commencement of duty by the Commissioners in 2012, the Commission had a tiny office on the top floor of the redisgnated Deputy Presidents Office, (Harambee House Annex). Despite the teething problems encountered then, the Commission handled 4,062 complaints,

1,398 (34%) of which were resolved. In 2013, the Commission opened two branch offices in Mombasa and Kisumu. Further, we relocated to our own office space in 2014, as you can see today. Additionally, we scaled awareness of, and accessibility to the Commission through various programmes, key among them, county visits and media advocacy. Besides creating awareness on the mandate of the Commission, the programmes provided an opportunity for the public to lodge complaints and make inquiries in their localities, and this culminated in an exponential increment of the number of complaints to 18,257 with 11,253 (62%) of them resolved.

In 2014, while building on the strategies of the previous years, the Commission embarked on further expansion through establishment of other branches and presence at the various Huduma Centres. Consequently, we have since secured offices in Isiolo and Eldoret. We have also posted officers in various Huduma Centres, namely, Kakamega, Nyeri, Embu, Kajiado, Nakuru, Eldoret, Kisii, Mombasa, Kisumu and Teleposta Towers in Nairobi. This has led to further exponential growth in the number of complaints. In this regard, we are happy to report that in 2014 alone, the Commission handled 86,905 complaints with 70,806 (81.5%) resolved.

Whereas the numbers may appear significant, it is only a fraction of legitimate complaints Kenyans have against public officers and institutions. For this reason, we continue to engage in aggressive training of public officers to enhance their capacities to not only handle complaints within their institutions, but also to minimise chances of those complaints arising in the first place. Thus, in 2014, the Commission trained 2,762 officers on complaints handling, good governance and principles of good public administration. We also continue to heighten awareness of both members of the public and government officers. One further approach the Commission has adopted is publicity through electronic media clips, as you may have recently noticed on some TV stations. As a further effort to create awareness, increase accessibility, and facilitate ease of lodging

complaints, we are happy to unveil yet another approach we think will facilitate ease of filing complaints.

Today, we are happy to launch, first, a toll free number 0800221349 through which any member of the public can call toll free and have their complaint filed. Second, we also launch an SMS platform through the short-code number 15700 which is accessible through Safaricom. Through this, the Commission shall be accessible to the 22 million Safaricom subscribers on the touch of a button, and for free.

We encourage Kenyans to take advantage of this opportunity to report any form of maladministration or injustice they may encounter in public offices. Although we anticipate that this will immediately increase the number of complaints we receive, we believe it to be fit and proper that Kenyans should have proper avenues for complaints and redress of grievances, even as we engage government for additional resources.

We welcome you to see our Helpdesk before you leave, and To partner with us in this endeavor. We now have the pleasure of presenting to you our Annual Report, 2014.

DR. OTIENDE AMOLLO, EBS CHAIRPERSON OF THE COMMISSION