Ombudsman chair elected to continental body

Kenya’s Ombudsman Commissioner Otiende Amollo, has been unanimously elected Secretary General of the African Ombudsman and Mediators Association (AOMA).

Consequently, the Kenyan Ombudsman will now oversee operations of the continental body for the next four years, as AOMA’s headquarters move to Nairobi.

AOMA is a continental body with 44 member-countries. Its mission is to advance development of the Ombudsman institution for the furtherance of good governance, the rule of law and human rights in Africa.

Amollo takes over from South Africa’s Public Protector, advocate Thuli Madonsela. She is famed for the report on President Jacob Zuma’s private Nkandla property, commonly referred to as the Nkandla scandal.

The elections took place in Addis Ababa at the African Union headquarters, on the sidelines of the Fourth General Assembly and Biennial Aoma and African Union (AU) conference concluded yesterday.

The meeting, which was addressed by key dignitaries was organised by the Government of Ethiopia, AU and AOMA. During the conference, the African Union entered into an arrangement with the Ombudsman and Mediators body which gave Aoma observer status in the African Union.

AOMA urged AU to ensure that the remaining ten African States that do not have the Office of the Ombudsman establish it in line with the AU resolution of 2012.

AOMA member countries include South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Ghana, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Gambia and Ivory Coast. Other countries represented are Lesotho, Guinea, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia.