Citizens have a right to 'good public administration'

Local councils should be guided by the principles of good administrative behaviour in their relations with the public, Ombudsman Joe Sammut has stressed.

He also put forward examples of how good public administration should be put in practice at a series of meetings last week with mayors and executive secretaries of all local councils in Malta and Gozo.

The meetings were held as part of a sustained drive by the Office of the Ombudsman to promote the right of citizens to good public administration.

Mr Sammut said that all Maltese citizens are entitled to receive fair and proper treatment and efficient service within a reasonable time from national as well as local authorities. Throughout these meetings mayors and executive secretaries spoke about the difficulties they faced in order to put these principles into practice and sought advice from the Ombudsman about the best way to tackle these issues in areas such as traffic management, the maintenance and upkeep of roads and relations with public utilities.

At the same time they expressed their commitment to share the Ombudsman's vision to put citizens at the centre of their actions by means of their endeavours in favour of citizens' rights in the performance of the functions entrusted to them by the Local Councils Act.