She is the second permanent incumbent of the position of Ombudsman since the office was established in 1990 to investigate complaints relating to maladministration, corruption, human rights and the environment.

Prior to becoming the Ombudswoman, Gawanas served as a Public Service Commissioner.

This week she spoke candidly to The Namibian about the challenge of living up to the expectations of the people she was elected to serve and also the shortcomings of the office.

Clearly sad at having to bid farewell to her work, her staff and also her country, she looks back with pride at the numerous people her office has been able to serve over the years and also the greater visibility and accessibility her office has achieved.

Gawanas does however not deny the weaknesses of the office which she says could have been more proactive in the past in rooting out corruption and dealing with human rights issues.

She mentions a lack of support from Parliament and the media in strengthening the Office of the Ombudsman.

"The success of the Office will always be measured by the difference we can make in the lives of people and improving the administration of government," she says.

Her work as an Ombudsman has extended beyond our borders and she has been the Executive Secretary of the African Ombudsman Association since 2001.

She has also lobbied for more such institutions on the continent and strengthening the capabilities of the existing ones.

This is what she had to say in her reflections on her stint as one of only a handful female Ombudspersons in Africa.

How did you see the challenge of taking up the post of Ombudswoman? The greatest challenge I suppose is to live up to integrity principles.

For me the challenge walking into this office was people would be looking at me.

The women of this country would be looking at me.

It's a public office, its a constitutional office.

Would I live up to the expectations of the people? Do I have the integrity to head this office? So for seven years I realised that this is an office that centres a lot around the head of the office.

What do you see as role of the Office of the Ombudsman? Democracy.

When people exercise power, they can abuse power.

Therefore in a democracy you always have checks and balances.

It is really for the ordinary people to feel that they have an institution that stands somehow between them and the powerful.

And the task of the Office in terms of the checks and balances is really in a nutshell to promote good governance - meaning promote transparency, accountability, respect for the rule of law and the rights of people.

Is this institution doing well in terms of its mandate? Yes and no.

Yes, we have received complaints, and dealt with them to the best of our ability but we also knew that we were not doing that well in other areas of our mandate.

For example, we did not deal with a great number of corruption complaints.

We have not been active in human rights issues.

We have made our strides - there has been greater awareness of the office's existence, looking at the yearly increases in the number of complaints.

But the concern has always been why are people not reporting corruption.

Why we didn't deal more with human rights issues.

But we have adopted an approach that in future we will be more proactive.

Subsequent to our major investigation that we conducted into the Social Security Commission, I think people really realise that this office can do its job.

So I am satisfied that in the seven years that we have made an impact, not as much as we would have liked, but the new approach is that we will have to focus on all areas of our mandate.

Is this office resourced sufficiently to do its job effectively? I think the biggest problem that one experiences in an office such as this, is that, especially when you deal with corruption and human rights, you really need expertise.

You need people that can do corruption investigations.

The approach in an Ombudsman's office is very unique.

If one talks about resources in terms of numbers and the size of the population then yes, 25 is maybe sufficient.

But then our mandate is very broad, with four different areas, and if they were separate institutions there would be many more staff.

Over the past few years, the bulk of the work handled by the Office of the Ombudsman has been comprised of complaints mostly from prisoners, from the public against Police conduct, against Government administration about employee related benefits, abuses of rights, abuses of power and mismanagement.

But, says Gawanas, the complaints against justice institutions is not so much about people's rights having been abused as much as it has been about delays in the system.

There is a perception that the work of this office has largely been responsive to complaints rather than as the initiator of probes.

Is this so? Yes, we have never initiated an investigation and the reason is very simple.

I think when you do something like that, you must look at the capacity you have in an office like this.

Capacity dictates in many ways whether you want to be proactive or reactive.

In the offices where the Ombudsman has powers to initiate investigations, they are very selective as to which cases they will initiate.

And in most of the times they will initiate cases which have got a great impact and affects a greater number of people.

Butvery few of them have initiated corruption investigations in that sense.

They have most likely dealt with anonymous complaints.

We have received a number of them.

Many times there have been no grounds for further investigations.

Rooting out corruption is part of the mandate of the Office of the Ombudsman.

How does this office deal with this problem? Corruption for me is a reflection of the lack of integrity within Namibian society.

I don't think you are born corrupt.

I think it is a question of integrity and that's why the programme launched by this office is not an anti-corruption programme but a National Integrity Promotion Programme.

Many of us are tempted.

What is it that makes you decide not to do it? Is it because you feel that what you have is enough? That there are people out there worse off than you? You can use power for the greater good or you can use power for your own ends.

It is the materialism within our society - if you bring children up in the culture of want.

The preventative approach to corruption will be more successful than just to go after people who are corrupt.

But we must also improve on systems and the integrity of individuals.

How do you foresee the Office of the Ombudsman working alongside the envisaged anti-corruption commission? The office [Ombudsman] was never involved in criminal investigation.

That was never the mandate of this office but it has never been a limitation either, because it could refer matters to the Prosecutor Office.

I have always maintained that when institutions are created with similar mandates it is very important to look at the one already in existence and what it can and cannot do.

But if there is a strong feeling that we need another institution then the functions of the two must be clearly demarcated.

Overlapping of jurisdiction often creates unnecessary duplication of resources.

The new institution is not taking over the functions of the Office of the Ombudsman.

So as far the office is concerned it will continue to investigate corruption.

What have been the successes of this office over the last seven years? The successes for me were that we have a very good, committed team of staff members that showed compassion and dedication for what the office stands for.

An Ombudsman is only as good as its staff members and so together as a team we could really make strides in the office.

I think for me the achievement in this office was merely to say here we are, we are there to serve you; to make the office visible and to make it accessible to the people of Namibia.

And that is an ongoing thing.

I can measure successes in terms of the number of cases we have resolved, but for me the successes of the Ombudsman office will always be the difference we can make in the lives of ordinary people and in terms of improving government administration.

It is always long term, because you are dealing with attitudes and systems, not just numbers.

On the flip side, what have been the downfalls of this office? I can't really think of downfalls rather than sometimes I just felt we didn't get the necessary support that we need to get.

I don't think we got the support of the media.

We had done a lot of activities around the country, and we wanted the media to be there when community members were raising their concerns at public meetings.

I also feel that on the downside, the office is accountable to Parliament.

The annual report of the Ombudsman doesn't get full attention in Parliament.

It is not reports that people will debate and give feedback to the staff.

I wish we could have been an agency, rather than as it is at the moment a directorate within a Ministry.

There is also a sense of disappointment, because this is basically the only institution people turn to, and there are times because you work in a legal framework you cannot do everything that people come to you with.

There are times when you have to tell people, sorry this is outside our jurisdiction.

That is really sad.

We have spent a lot time giving people advice referring them to other people.

What would you like to see this office achieve in the future? I hope that after I have left that the status of this office is placed on a much higher level than it is currently is and that it acquires a higher level of independence - that is something that I strongly believe in.

To see the office acting as a national human rights institution where we can promote and protect the rights of people.

Moving into the area of socio and economic rights and not just civil and political.

Creating a presence of the office.

That has really been an issue for me.

On September 17, Gawanas will start her new job as one of eight African Union Commissioners, a position she will hold for the next four years.

As the commissioner responsible for social affairs she will be expected to harmonise and initiate programmes for the whole continent on issues relating to health, population, poverty, women and children.

Gawanas sees her new responsibilities as being supportive of national governments in improving the welfare of their people.

She also hopes to encourage the implementation of resolutions taken by African nations and to see that protocols are not only ratified, but also carried out.

Without her family for the next couple of months, in her spare time, Gawanas hopes to continue mastering the art of playing the keyboard, after just recently starting lessons.

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