A complainant lodged a grievance with the Ombudsman Commission on 5 October 2023 regarding the alleged non-payment of an outstanding claim of K149,204.06 for renovation and maintenance work undertaken on a Provincial Administration property in a Province in the Momase Region in 2020. The complainant claimed that he should have been paid K149,204.06 rather than the K95,793.94 he received.
According to the complainant, his initial estimate of K95,793.94, the amount reflected in the signed Minor Works Contract, was an underestimation or undervaluation of the actual work required. He therefore submitted an inflated claim totalling K149,204.06, asserting this as the “true” value of the work carried out.
The Commission registered the complaint and initiated enquiries with the Provincial Administration. In response, the Provincial Administration confirmed that the complainant had been correctly paid K95,793.94, which was the full and agreed contractual amount under the executed Minor Works Contract. The Provincial Administration further advised that the additional claim of K149,204.06 was not legitimate.
During one of its official business visits to the Province, the Commission met with the Provincial Administration to verify the matter. The Provincial Administration reaffirmed that the complainant’s allegation of an outstanding balance was false and that the complainant had already been fully paid for all contracted works.
The Commission made several attempts to contact the complainant to clarify the payment records and the Provincial Administration’s response. However, all telephone numbers provided by the complainant were either unreachable or unreliable.
Through its intervention, the Commission prevented the processing of an invalid and fraudulent claim of K149,204.06, while confirming that the legitimate contractual amount of K95,793.94 had been properly settled.