The Ombudsman act was amended during the second sitting of the first ordinary session of parliament of this year.

Section 23 of the Ombudsman Act provides that failure to comply with a notice issued by the Ombudsman with a Notice under section 22 may result with the Ombudsman applying to court for a summons to be issued and a fine of 100,000 vatu to be paid for failing to comply with notice under section 22 of the Act. This provision has now been amended and a fine of 500,000 vatu to be paid if anyone fails to comply with a summon issued under section 22 of the Ombudsman Act.

The bill to amend the Ombudsman Act was tabled in Parliament by the Hon Prime Minister Bob Loughman Weibur and is the second amendment done to the Ombudsman Act in less than a year. It is believed that this amendment will improve how people who are summoned by the Ombudsman respond to Ombudsman’s request to provide information and evidence to his enquiries.