The ombudsman: A muzzled watch dog?
by admin on | 2024-11-05 20:08:23
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Kenya’s Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ) or the Ombudsman is a quasi-judicial oversight commission tasked with watch-keeping functions over the administrative actions of public authorities under the Constitution. It is a watchdog that scrutinizes the administrative excesses of these institutions and provides a speedy, efficient and complementary recourse aside from the mainstream justice system. In this manner, the CAJ is therefore an important institution of overseeing accountability in the service delivery process. However, like similar quasi-judicial organs, there is a fundamental hurdle which beleaguers the commission from fully realizing its watch-keeping function: the limitation of enforceability. The Purpose of this article is to analyse the current status quo on the enforceability of the decisions of the CAJ. This will be undertaken by a comparative assessment from selected Scandinavian countries from where this institution was conceived and developed, and also in South Africa where recent progressive decisions have been rendered on the subject. The article holds that the CAJ is largely toothless and makes the case that it should be more empowered for it to optimally perform... Read more
