The Ombudsman’s Office sometimes encounters weaknesses in the legislative framework that guides its work. These weaknesses often highlight the need to review laws and policies that govern the Ombudsman’s function of fighting against and rolling back maladministration in Solomon Islands and where necessary, introduce reforms.
The agenda of these reforms is to introduce draft policies and legislation for Cabinet and Parliament approval.
A submitted proposal for a structural reform has already received an approval by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Public Service in early 2020. This reform is purposely to be implemented over a 5 years and should commence in 2020. This reform will:
- Effectively manage potential risks and threats;
- Ensure that OOSI performs its Constitutional function effectively;
- Ensure effective participation in the implementation of Government policies; and
- Maintain the integrity of OOSI.
It will begin with the internal upgrading of existing positions and then a gradual increase of staff under key areas of the office through the creation of new positions. This will contribute to a great boost in the work and performance of the Investigation Unit which is currently under-staffed.