Ombudsman Commission’s Investigation Helps Court Official

On 2 August 2023, the Ombudsman Commission received a complaint from a disgruntled Village Court Official (the Court Official) who alleged that a The Government Department had unreasonably delayed his monthly allowances which he ought to have received for performing his duties. The Court Official commenced employment in June 2002 as a Peace Officer for one of the Council wards in a District in Papua New Guinea and he had been performing his duties without receiving his monthly allowances. The Provincial Liaison Officers in the Province obtained his particulars including his Bank Account Details and submitted them to the Department responsible but the Department had failed to subscribe the details to the Alesco payroll system. The Ombudsman Commission commenced administrative investigations into the complaint pursuant to Section 219 of the Constitution and Section 13 of the Organic Law on the Ombudsman Commission with an aim to independently investigate the complaint and assess the matter complained of. The Commission wrote to the responsible government Department and advised them of its intention to investigate the Complaint. Investigation of the complaint continued thereafter where the investigation revealed that the Government Department had unreasonably delayed the processing of the monthly allowances for the Court Official. On 18 October 2023, whilst the Commission was investigating the complaint to establish the cause of the delay, the Complainant informed the Commission that The department had finally paid him a backdated payment of K6,048.00 and put him back on payroll where he confirmed receiving his monthly allowances of K336.00 This effectively resolved the matter that was complained about by the Court Official and the Ombudsman Commission closed its investigation then.

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