The ombudsman institution is a system of accountability mechanism that helps citizens to know and appreciate their rights to complain against the decision of the executive branch of the government. The Ethiopian Institution of the Ombudsman(EIO) is established in the Ethiopian constitutional order as a system of oversight and accountability mechanism over both federal and state public administration. This book enquires the legality of the mandate of EIO as an overseer over the states executive bodies and its implication on the state autonomy in the Ethiopian federation and its practical significance in bringing about good governance in the states. The book contends that the mandate of the EIO exercised over state executive organs has the tendency to undermine meaningful exercise of the right to self-governance of the states. The book also contends that the federal ombudsman institution is not an effective institutional mechanism to promote good administration in the states.