On the 7th of May 2019, the Office of the Ombudsman delivered a Leadership Code Awareness presentation to the newly appointed Directors from over 20 Government Departments. It was part of the Induction Program for the Directors that was organized and staged by the Public Service Commission.

Directors Listening to the Presentation


Principal Investigator Darval Simon presenting on the Leadership Code


Director of Livestock Department making remarks and asking questions


Government Chief Information Officer, making remarks and asking questions

On the 7th of May 2019, the Office of the Ombudsman delivered a Leadership Code Awareness presentation to the newly appointed Directors from over 20 Government Departments. It was part of the Induction Program for the Directors that was organized and staged by the Public Service Commission.

The Ombudspersons representing the Ombudsman Office at that event were Mr. Darval Simon, as Principal Investigator of Leadership Code Investigations and Mrs. Dorah Samuel as Principal Investigator of General Complaint Investigations.

A 30 minutes presentation as delivered by Mr Simon was focused on the core mandated functions of the Ombudsman Office covering topics such as: What is the Leadership Code? Who are leaders as per the Article 67 of the Constitution and section 5 of the Leadership Code Act? Etc...

The awareness presentation also covers the main provisions of the Leadership Code Act: Duties of a Leader, Examples of Leadership Code complaints and breaches, Submission of annual returns and how Director Generals and Directors can assist the work of the Ombudsman.

A mandatory requirement of all persons classified as Leaders under Article 67 of the Constitution and section 5 of the Leadership Code Act was also brought to their attention demanding each and every one of them to submit their annual returns under section 31 of the Leadership Code Act to the Clerk of Parliament using the prescribed form and listing all their assets such as lands and properties, vehicles, shares in private or public companies, and all their liabilities, transactions and directorships in corporations/other bodies and other offices.

The presentation was welcomed by most of the Directors present confirming that it was their first time to listen to such a presentation which shed some light or cleared several aspects of their roles under the Leadership Code Act and other laws affecting the area or role of their respective leaderships.

The Office of the Ombudsman is thankful that the Public Service Commission can host the first ever induction for Directors and encourages the Directors not only to have pride and integrity whilst carrying out their respective duties but also to allow similar awareness presentation to be delivered to their staffs.

They were also reminded to always promote Good Governance, Transparency in their respective Departments and also ensure public funds is being managed and expended for the very purpose for which it was appropriated by Parliament.