Tendencias de las quejas ante el Defensor del Pueblo en Angola: análisis a partir de informes de actividad

Abstract

Since the appearance of the Ombudsman in the Angolan legal system, through Article 142 of the Constitutional Law of 1992, and the election of the first Ombudsman in 2005, Angolans have had an independent administrative authority responsible for defending the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens. The complaint to the Ombudsman represents an administrative guarantee for individuals to claim their rights and protect their legitimate interests in the face of an act or omission by the Public Administration that violates or threatens them. The aim of this article is to analyse trends in complaints to the Ombudsman, based on his activity reports for the years 2011, 2014, 2018 and 2022. This is an exploratory and documentary study, which analysed sociodemographic variables, the subject of the complaint, the institution targeted and the solution given. The interpretative or hermeneutic method was also used in the interpretation of legislative texts. The results point to an increasing number of complaints to the Ombudsman, mostly made by citizens of Luanda, with a predominance of males, with the most targeted institutions being central state administration bodies, and filing as the most recurrent solution. The conclusion is that there is an annual increase in the number of complaints, although this does not reflect the diversity of the more than thirty million inhabitants. On the other hand, the slowness of responses and the population's unfamiliarity with the role of this authority can be pointed to as reasons for the low level of adherence.