The Office of the Ombudsman is currently in the process of meeting with each of the seven Government Ministries.
The objective of these sessions is an exchange of views on the procedures followed thus far by the Ombudsman, and the working relation with the Ministries, geared at improving efficiency and effectiveness of the investigations.
Ministry participants entail the Secretary General, Head of Departments and Sector Heads. The exchange sessions are organized once a year with each Ministry.
According to Ombudsman Dr. Nilda Arduin-Lynch, some Ministries expressed the desire to meet with the Bureau more often to elaborate on the standards of proper conduct government bodies are required to adhere to.
So far, the Ombudsman and her staff have met with the Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Development, Environment and Infrastructure, Ministry of General Affairs and the Ministry of Finance.
The focus is an exchange with each Ministry about the experiences to date with the work procedures of the Bureau, experiences to date, future development enhancements, evaluation of procedures process, and standards of proper conduct.
The meeting with the Ministry of General Affairs focused on processes and procedures at the Department of Document and Information Management (DIV), the Civil Registry Department and the Department of Personnel Affairs.
With respect to the Civil Registry Department, the Ombudsman and the former discussed the registration of persons living on the Dutch side, and the process that is followed by the Civil Registry to verify if indeed a person is living at the correct residential address.
The Personnel Department spoke about the complaint process for civil servants with respect to placement of government organizational staff. A follow-up meeting was held at the aforementioned department with staff.
The information exchange with the Ministry of Finance dealt with proper collaboration between departments within and between the various Ministries.
The next meeting is scheduled with the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sports in the first week of October.