Office of the Ombudsman of Trinidad and Tobago

The Ombudsman's Office was established solely for the purpose of giving assistance to persons who believe that they suffered injustices at the hands of public officers employed by Government agencies and departments. If you believe that any Government department or authority has unfairly treated you, you can take your COMPLAINT to the Ombudsman.

In short, the Ombudsman can best be described as a 'grievance person' to whom a citizen can make a complaint with a view to redressing the mistakes, delays, rigidity and carelessness of the government bureaucracy. The role of the Ombudsman is both investigatory and advisory. In consequence of his investigations, he can make recommendations to Government departments and authorities aimed at the resolution of complaints and improvements in the delivery of public services. On failure to comply with his recommendations, he can report the matter to Parliament.

The Ombudsman is an Officer of Parliament and is only accountable to Parliament, to which he makes annual reports on the performance of his functions including statistics of the complaints received and the results of his investigations. He can also make special reports to Parliament on matters of public importance. The Office is a non-political, independent and impartial oversight institution.