Commission on Administrative Justice (Office of the Ombudsman) wants to have an office within the Kenya Defence Forces (KDF).
In submissions to the National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, the Office of Ombudsman proposed said its proposal was informed by an inadequate internal complaints management system in KDF.
Chairperson Florence Kajuju said the commission has received 289 complaints by June 2023 from current and former members of KDF on matters of promotion and termination among others.
“The complainants have asserted that their complaints have not been appropriately dealt with through the existing internal grievance procedures in the defence forces,” she told the committee.
She added that the unique command structure of the military institutions has not only made the whole complaint resolution process rigid but perceived to be partial.
The office of the Ombudsman is a constitutional entity established under Article 59(4) of the Constitution and the Commission on Administrative Justice Act, 2011.
The commission has a mandate, inter-alia, to investigate any conduct in state affairs or any act or omission in public administration in any sphere of Government and complaints of abuse of power, unfair treatment, manifest injustice or unlawful, oppressive and unfair or unresponsive official conduct.
Kajuju said the complaint-handling infrastructure in the KDF is inadequate and as such the establishment of the Office of the Military Ombudsman would play a key role in bridging the gaps.
Section 303 (1) of the KDF Act 2012 establishes an internal grievance mechanism for handling complaints brought by a member of the defence forces or civilians.
Guided by the section, the Defence Council generated the Kenya Defence Forces (Internal Grievance Mechanism) Rules 2017 that set out how complaints are to be lodged, investigated and outcome appealed against.
