Kenya Design Report 2018-2020

To develop Kenya’s third action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen..., the country increased participation of CSOs, however, without deepening their involvement to share the decision-making power and increasing the ambitionAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, OGP commitments should “stretch government practice beyond its current baseline with respect to key areas of open government.” Ambition captures the po... of the plan. It contains three notable reforms to carry forward on addressing beneficial ownershipDisclosing beneficial owners — those who ultimately control or profit from a business — is essential for combating corruption, stemming illicit financial flows, and fighting tax evasion. Technical... More, open contractingA transparent procurement process, known as open contracting, increases competition, improves public service delivery, and ensures governments better value for their money. Technical specifications: C... More and public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio.... Moving forward, Kenya could consider expanding the scope of commitments to include other relevant national priorities like improving civic space.

The Open Government PartnershipThe Open Government Partnership (OGP) is a multi-stakeholder initiative focused on improving government transparency, ensuring opportunities for citizen participation in public matters, and strengthen... More (OGP) a global partnership that brings together government reformers and civil society leaders to create action plans that make governments more inclusive, responsive, and accountable. The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM)The Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) is OGP’s accountability arm and the main means of tracking progress in participating countries. The IRM provides independent, evidence-based, and objective ... monitors all action plans to ensure governments follow through on commitments. Kenya joined OGP in 2011. Since, Kenya has implemented two action plans. This report evaluates the design of Kenya’s 3^rd action plan.

General overview of action plan

Aiming to become a regional reference, Kenya has taken concrete steps to enhance transparencyAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, transparency occurs when “government-held information (including on activities and decisions) is open, comprehensive, timely, freely available to the pub... More and access to information through legislative changes and with the use of technology, for example with the 2018 Executive Order on procurement transparency and the Bribery Act of 2016. Nevertheless, the country continues to grapple with concerns around enhanced state surveillance and a shrinking civic space. The implementation of this action plan represents an opportunity to consolidate gains on beneficial ownership, open contracting and public participation, and to prepare the grounds for a future action plan that could expand its focus to address other salient national priorities.

With each NAP cycle, Kenya has increased participation of civil society actors to drive the OGP agenda forward. However, while there were multiple instances for the public to provide inputs and comment on the draft version of the action plan, there is no evidence available to demonstrate that the government published its reasoning behind how civil society and public input was considered. Future consultation processes should deepen participation from groups and experts outside the limited traditional circle of actors to ensure stronger collaboration between more civil society representatives and government implementing agencies.

Kenya’s third national action plan outlines six commitments relating to enhancing access to information, civic participation and OGP resiliency. The commitments primarily reflected the OGP values of access to information, civic participation and technology and innovation for openness and accountability and less emphasis given to public accountabilityAccording to OGP’s Articles of Governance, public accountability occurs when ”rules, regulations, and mechanisms in place call upon government actors to justify their actions, act upon criticisms ... More across the board. Kenya’s OGP Steering CommitteeThe Steering Committee is OGP’s executive decision-making body. Its role is to develop, promote and safeguard OGP’s values, principles and interests; establish OGP’s core ideas, policies, and ru... members should consider carrying forward the three notable commitments on increasing transparency of beneficial owners, access to information in contracting processes and enhancing public participation.

 Table 2. Noteworthy commitments

Recommendations

The IRM recommendations aim to inform the development of the next action plan and guide implementation of the current action plan.

Table 3. Five KEY IRM Recommendations