Leon Jenkins-Johnsten Esq. has expressed profound thanks and appreciation to President Julius Maada Bio, the Government and the People of Sierra Leone for honoured and bestowed upon him to serve as the fourth (4) Ombudsman of Sierra Leone. He added that, It has been a very worthwhile experience for him as he had learnt a lot about Sierra Leone, its people and its places.

Jenkins-Johnsten Esq. made this statement in a press release issued today, Friday 8 November 2022, as he his tenure as ombudsman ends on December 5th 2022.

Read his full statement below:

Pursuant to Section 3 of the Ombudsman Act No. 2 of 1997 I was appointed by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone Rtd. Brig. Dr. Julius Maada Bio on the 23rd of October 2018 to serve as the 4th Ombudsman of the Republic of Sierra Leone.

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I was subsequently approved by Parliament on the 14th of November 2018 and 1 took the Oath of Office before His Excellency the President on the 5th day of December 2018 and I started work on the 6th day of December 2018.

Pursuant to Section 5.1 of the Ombudsman Act No. 2 of 1997 my tenure of office will come to an end on the 5th day of December 2022.

Upon my assumption of office, the Office of the Ombudsman was relatively unknown in many respects but I can confidently say as of today’s date the majority of Sierra Leoneans are now aware of the Office of the Ombudsman and the services we provide.

During my tenure as Ombudsman, we received 1,832 complaints in our offices in Freetown, Bo, Kenema, Makeni and Port Loko and we were able to conclude 734; referred 614 which were not under our mandate and 484 remain under investigation countrywide.

The office has a total of 49 staff in Freetown and the Regional Offices in Bo, Kenema, Makeni and Port Loko.

The operations of the Office of the Ombudsman are wholly financed by the Government of Sierra Leone. Throughout my four years of leadership, the Office has been receiving yearly subventions from the Ministry of Finance to fund the activities of the Office across the country.

Due to a high level of competence, experience and administrative controls, funds received from Government have been judiciously spent for the purposes for which they were provided and periodically accounted for in accordance with the requisite International Public Sector Reporting Standards (IPSAS).

Hence, the Office has received four unmodified audit opinions (from two separate auditors) on the audit of its financial statements for the years 2018- 2021.

I would like to express my deepest thanks and appreciation to His Excellency the President, the Government and the People of Sierra Leone for the honour bestowed upon me and for the confidence reposed in me to serve as the fourth (4) Ombudsman of the Republic of Sierra Leone. It has been a very worthwhile experience for me and I have learnt a lot about Sierra Leone, its people and its places and for that I am exceedingly grateful to His Excellency.

I also want to extend my thanks and appreciation to all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs); in particular the Ministry of Finance and the Financial Secretary for providing much needed resources to ensure we are able to carry out our mandate.

The Office of the Ombudsman is pivotal in a democracy and it is for good reason that it is embedded in Section 146 of the Constitution of Sierra Leone Act No. 6 of 1991.

I therefore implore His Excellency and the Government to continue to support the Office of the Ombudsman as partners in the development of our democracy. The office has challenges which are not unique to our institution such as lack of vehicles and man power to enable us to function in the provinces and hard to reach areas.

I do hope and pray that these would be addressed as and when it is convenient for government to so do.

I also want to thank the management and the entire staff of the Office of the Ombudsman for without their contributions nothing would have been achieved during my tenure.

As I look forward to returning to my private legal practice, want to thank my family for supporting me throughout my tenure especially my three (3) children-Christian the eldest; Leona and Leon. I look forward to spending more time with them.

Finally, I want to once again thank His Excellency for this huge honour in choosing me out of so many that are competent in Sierra Leone. Holding a public office is about serving your nation and I am grateful to have served my country Sierra Leone. I do hope the confidence His Excellency reposed in me is not regretted as have executed my mandate to the best of my ability.

I wish His Excellency, the Government and the People of Sierra Leone all the best as I ask for God’s guidance and protection in all that we do as a nation.