By Maureen Odiwour and Dennis Onyango    

NAIROBI, KENYA: The Commission for Administrative Justice (CAJ) handled 4,062 complaints and inquiries last year.

CAJ Chairperson Otiende Amollo (pictured) said 2,440 of the complaints were inherited from the Public Complaints Standing Committee, while 1,622 were new and 14 own motion complaints. “The commission resolved 1,398 grievances and inquiries,” he said in Kisumu yesterday.

The Ministry of Lands led with complaints and inquiries at 11 per cent, followed by National Police Service at 10 per cent. The Judiciary and Provincial Administration complaints stood at eight per cent each, followed by the State Law Office at five per cent. “The Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Finance and City Council of Nairobi had four and three per cent respectively,” he said.

Mr Otiende said most grievances related to delay, unresponsive and unlawful official conduct, administrative injustice, inefficiency and abuse of power.

“The commission has partnered with Integrated Public Complaints Referral Mechanism, an electronic based system of referring complaints for resolution by appropriate institutions,” he said.

He spoke when CAJ opened a sub-branch office in Kisumu to cater for the western region, in line with devolution requirements. He said it was critical to decentralise the process to counties to allow the public get administrative justice. He, however, regretted that the public had limited knowledge about administrative justice and their right to demand prompt and quality services from public offices.

More accessible

“We believe that by making our offices more accessible we will achieve our vision of an effective overseer of responsiveness and servant hood in public offices at national and county levels,” he said. He said the commission would also open an office in the Coast region. The Kisumu and Mombasa offices have been facilitated by UNDP. He urged administrative offices to corporate with oversight bodies and not undermine them.

Attorney General Githu Muigai also lauded establishment of the office in Kisumu saying it would ensure effective and good governance. In a speech read on his behalf by Deputy Solicitor General Christine Agimba, Prof Muigai said this would ensure accountability in public administration and service delivery.