Good Governance

Investigations

The Good Governance Unit receives and investigates complaints from members of the public about administrative actions and non-actions of all government Ministries and agencies, and helps resolve decisions that are wrong, unjust, unlawful, discriminatory or unfair. It may also look into matters referred to it by the Prime Minister or a Parliamentary committee relating to a petition. Therefore, complaints are classified under three areas including

1. PRIME MINISTER’S REFERRALS

Complaints referred by the Prime Minister

2. PUBLIC INTEREST COMPLAINTS

Complaints submitted by members of the Public.

3. Own motion investigations

Investigations initiated at the Ombudsman’s own discretion

Agencies whereby the Unit can investigate include the all Government agencies and State Owned Enterprises (excluding government law enforcement agencies).

The Unit is unable to conduct investigations on cases against a trustee (Public Trust Office), Office of the Attorney General and cases where there is an avenue for appeal to a Tribunal or the Court – see section 21 Ombudsman Act 2013.

Furthermore, the Unit also does not have jurisdiction to look into complaints against private sector agencies, but can make referrals to relevant agencies who can deal with such cases.

For more information on the statistics of complaints as well as Investigations Reports these can be found under the “Resources & Publications” Tab – Good Governance 

If you have a complaint you can email us using the email address complaints@ombudsman.gov.ws or fill out a complaint form using the ‘Lodge a Complaint’ tab above.