Republic of Mauritius- Some 138 000 requests registered since the launching of the Citizen Support Portal in 2017

​GIS – 28 July 2020:The number of requests including complaints, suggestions and queries registered on the Citizen Support Portal for the year 2019 is 41,628, out of which 84% have been successfully dealt with. For the period January 2020 to 24 July 2020, 29,256 requests were registered out of which 63 % have been successfully dealt with. Over the period 28 April 2017 to 24 July 2020, the portal has registered 138,325 requests and complaints out of which 83.5% have already been addressed.

This information was communicated by the Prime Minister, Mr Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, today, in the National Assembly, in reply to a Parliamentary Question pertaining to the number of requests and complaints filed by the Citizen Support Unit (CSU) for the year 2019 till date and the number of cases solved.

Lauding the online complaints management system, the Prime Minister recalled that Government is leaving no stone unturned in its quest for continual innovation and progress. The ultimate mission, he said, is to modernise the public sector to better serve the nation and bringing a smarter Government closer to its citizens through the click of a button.

How the Citizen Support Portal works

Speaking about the Citizen Support Portal launched in April 2017, he underlined that it consists of an open source software which establishes the link between all Government institutions and the public thereby promoting an inclusive and citizen centric service delivery. ‘The portal enables citizens to register and track their complaints online on www.csu.mu through a unique reference number on a 24/7 basis wherever they are’, he pointed out.

Citizens who do not have access to computers have the possibility to register their complaints in the 35 Citizens Advice Bureaux (CAB) or 95 Citizen Support Corners in Post Offices around the island. CAB Organisers then refer the complaints to Desk Officers or focal points of around 320 institutions comprising Ministries, Departments, Local Authorities and parastatal bodies. More than 1 500 trained civil servants in these organisations are responsible to follow up and address these complaints. The portal is disability-friendly and can be used by those with visual impairments.

The management of the portal is done at the level of the CSU of the Prime Minister’s Office and complaints are channeled to all Ministries, Local Authorities and Parastatal Bodies for redress within clear timeframes and response to citizens. The CSU has classified the requests/complaints into 206 categories such as street lighting, pricing issues, building and permits, drains and road infrastructure, cleaning of bare land, employment and job seeking, together with a timeframe to resolve the requests and complaints in each category.

Ensuring monitoring and evaluation

According to Mr Jugnauth, monitoring and evaluation is one of the most integral and critical parts undertaken at the level of the CSU. A Monitoring and Evaluation Report is prepared by the CSU which uses scientific data captured on the portal to analyse the needs of citizens region-wise and the gaps and weaknesses with a view to taking initiatives and appropriate measures to tackle those issues.

The Prime Minister acknowledged that the citizen-centric engagement platform has been an effective tool to bridge the gap between Government policies and citizen’s needs. It has to a great extent brought the most awaited radical change positively impacting on the process of complaints management, transparency, accountability, government decision making and the quality of public service delivery, he stated.

In addition, in May 2018, a Task Force was set up in each of the 20 constituencies to ensure a close monitoring of the complaints received by each organisation on the Citizen Support Portal. Around 200 Task Force meetings have been conducted as at July 2020.

Communication campaign

The Prime Minister highlighted that communication has also been an effective tool to ensure proximity and close interaction with citizens in order to build trust and gather real time data at grass roots level. Since April 2017, the CSU has embarked on a vast communication campaign in order to cover the whole population and to ensure that the citizens are made aware of their rights and benefits provided by government.

He added that the project has met with a resounding success not just locally but has also received recognition at international level. Furthermore, the project received the Bronze Award at the African Association for Public Administration and Management under the innovative management category.