Ombudsmanship in Zambia: A study of the Redress of grievances in Zambia and the place and role of the commission for investigations in the Zambian Administrative process.
Date
2011-11-03
Authors
Mumba, Stanley kabamba Chisambwe
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
"Ombudsmanship in Zambia" is the title of
this dissertation. This title has been chosen in preference to "The Ombudsman in Zambia" or the "Commission for Investigations" or some other similar title. The choice is not entirely arbitrary.
It is to be understood as necessarily
following from one basic premise of the whole study - that all too often the formal analysis of institutions, beginning with the legislation under which they were constituted and ending with an answer to the question "have the intentions of the
Legislature been achieved?"-as if all this occurs in a vacuum, fails to yield meaningful results. An attempt has been made here to avoid that. Accordingly this dissertation has aimed at putting the Commission for Investigations, Zambia's
own version of the originally Swedish Ombudsman institution, in its right context in the administrative process. The dissertation is in two parts. Part one
is essentially a study of the processes for redressing grievances amanating from the administrative process that existe-d prior to the adoption of the Commission for Investigations. In this part.,a, somewhat detailed study of Judicial control of
administrative action, Parliamentary control of administrative action and political and Administrative control of administrative action in Zambia is attempted. Part two justifies the adoption of the Commission for Investigations in Zambia in the light of the conclusions drawn in Part one. Part two then states, considers, analyses and draws
conclusions upon the developments leading to the adoption of an Ombudsman institution in Zambia, the form, powers, jurisdiction and constitutional status of the Commission for Investigations and the relationship
of the Commission to tn.e Executive, the
Legislature and the Courts. Just as an earnest effort has been made in the dissertation to extricate the Commission for
Investigations from its legal shell and study its broader aspects in their socio-economic, politico-Jan d. historic context, it has also been realised that since the Ombudsman as a remedial- institution is not perculiar to the Zambian legal order, a study of the Zambian Commission for Investigations can be greatly enhanced if its operation is compared to the operations of similar institutions elsewhere.
Accordingly attempts have been made,(although care has been exercised to avoid the impression that this is basically a comparative study of Ombudsmen in three countries), to refer to the operations of
the "Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration," Britain's own version of the Ombudsman institution, and the Tanzanian "Permanent Commission of Enquiry." The choice of these two institutions has been dictated largely by two factors: The British institution was created six years before the Commission for Investigations and much has been published on that institution. The adoption of the Permanent Commission
of Enquiry in Tanzania in 1966 marked the
first instance of the adoption of the Ombudsman institution in an underdeveloped One-Party African state.
Description
Keywords
Ombudsman- -Zambia , Grievance procedures- -Zambia , Investigations(Commission for investigations)- -Zambia