The office of ombudsman

THE government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh is considering the appointment of an ombudsman under Article 77 of the Constitution of Bangladesh. The Ombudsman Act, 1980, provides for the establishment of the office of ombudsman and defines his powers and functions and states that the ombudsman shall be appointed by the president on the recommendation of Parliament.
The ombudsman is a nonpartisan official who is essentially independent of legislative, judicial, and political control. The word "ombudsman" is of Swedish origin and means "representative." The first country to establish an ombudsman was Sweden -- the Swedish legislature introduced the position in 1809 and its function was to respond to public complaints against government actions. There are currently about 120 countries that have an ombudsman.
On a multinational level, the European Union created the European Ombudsman position in 1992 in the Treaty on European Union, also known as the Maastricht Treaty; the first European ombudsman was appointed in 1995. Finally, the United Nations General Assembly created the position of United Nations Ombudsman at the end of 2001 and made the first appointment in 2002.
The ombudsman has the power to launch an investigation against government employees either on his/her own initiative or on the basis of a citizen's complaint. The investigation may be for illegal activities, corruption, improper conduct of government or any other reason the ombudsman believes will improve the conduct of government and its proper relationship with the citizens. After a thorough investigation, the ombudsman can either mediate a solution or initiate prosecution in the courts.
In other words, the ombudsman is a non-partisan watchdog who scrutinises the actions of government on a continuous basis. In Bangladesh, where corruption is rampant, the ombudsman can play a significant role in eliminating corruption by being the "citizens' defender."
The institution of the ombudsman is one way to control the bureaucracy and to make it more responsive and public-oriented. The need arises because of several criticisms of bureaucratic actions, which can be summarised as follows:
-The bureaucracy is perceived to be rather inefficient, isolated and non-responsive to the needs of the people;
-It is resistive to changes needed to meet social problems;
-The bureaucracy has grown so large that it is not possible to easily monitor its activities, or make it sufficiently accountable;
-The bureaucracy executes laws in a manner that is at variance with what the legislature intended.
Ultimately, the problem becomes one of how to bring the bureaucracy under some oversight and supervision. One of the ways is through the legislature. If no money can be spent without legislative authorisation, the bureaucracy can then be held responsible by means of financial controls. The legislature has the power to pass legislation to punish illegal and fraudulent acts by administrators, and it has the power to conduct hearings and investigations in administrative matters.
Though all these controls are used in an attempt to ensure administrative responsibility, they are not necessarily effective or sufficient. Since the bureaucracy has grown so large because of the tremendous expansion of state activities in modern days and is so well protected by the system, legislative control over the bureaucracy is exercised rather perfunctorily.
Legislators come and go, but the bureaucracy goes on. As a result of the deficiencies of the legislative control over the administration, the office of ombudsman has been introduced in many countries to ensure administrative responsibility. We hope that the establishment of an ombudsman in Bangladesh will help to ensure the rights of the people and strengthen democracy.

Dr. Mustafa Chowdhury is a former Chairman of the Bangladesh Public Service Commission and Professor of Political Science, Dhaka University.