Journal of African Law

Table of Contents - September 1995 - Volume 39, Issue 02  

Statute Notes

The Ombudsman Arrives in Botswana: A Note on the Ombudsman Act, 1995

E. K. Quansah*

The enactment of the Ombudsman Act, 1995, marks Botswana's belated, albeit welcome, membership of the world-wide movement to enhance governmental administration. The Act brings to fruition the deliberations of an international conference on the suitability of the Ombudsman institution in Botswana held in Gaborone in 1993. The need for such an institution to complement the country's democratic institutions was made clear at that conference by the then Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration who was quoted as saying:

‘The wide acceptance of the Ombudsman institution and the fact that it has been incorporated in recent constitutional reforms in other countries requires that we in Botswana give serious consideration to it at this point in time.’

Footnotes

* University of Botswana.