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Kenya

Increase efforts to promote public participation in the legislative process (KE0027)

Overview

At-a-Glance

Action Plan: Kenya Action Plan 2020-2022

Action Plan Cycle: 2020

Status: Active

Institutions

Lead Institution: The Senate of the Republic of Kenya

Support Institution(s): Other actors involved - Government Office of the Deputy President, Council of Governors (CoG), The National Assembly, County Assemblies Forum (CAF), Controller of Budget, Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ), National Gender and Equality Commission (NGEC). Other actors involved - CSOs, private sector, working groups, multilaterals etc Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), National Taxpayers Association (NTA), Election Observation Group (ELOG), Twaweza East Africa, Youth Agenda, United Disabled Persons of Kenya (UDPK), CRECO, Institute of Public Finance Kenya (IPFK). Katiba Institute, Kenya Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas (KCSPOG).

Policy Areas

Civic Space, E-Government, Fiscal Openness, Gender, Legislation & Regulation, Local Commitments, Marginalized Communities, Public Participation, Publication of Budget/Fiscal Information

IRM Review

IRM Report: Pending IRM Review

Starred: Pending IRM Review

Early Results: Pending IRM Review

Design i

Verifiable: Pending IRM Review

Relevant to OGP Values: Pending IRM Review

Potential Impact: Pending IRM Review

Implementation i

Completion: Pending IRM Review

Description

We will strive to mainstream meaningful public participation and in all developmental spheres in the country, ensuring that the voice of the public counts and shapes the eventual developmental outcome for ownership. Additionally, we shall seek to boost legislative openness as part of the effort toward securing open and accountable governance.

Objective To optimally actualize the constitutional aspiration on public participation, identified as a national value and principle of governance and a key requirement in legislative, economic and social development.

Status quo The Constitution of Kenya, 2010 (COK, 2010), in Article 10, identifies public participation as one of the key national values and principles of governance. Via Article 118, COK, 2010 binds Parliament to engaging members of the public in its business. It requires Parliament to ‘facilitate public participation and involvement in the legislative and other business of Parliament and its committees.’ Despite being over a decade old provision, implementation of public participation largely remains sub-optimal, either completely ignored or half-heartedly implemented. A nationallevel legislation to refine its implementation is yet to be passed, thus confining the process largely to the zone of mere formality and tokenistic undertaking. It fails the test of inclusivity and genuine desire to incorporate the views as shared by members of the public. There is lack of robust and effective mechanisms of binding duty bearers to meaningful public participation process. Access to information, to inform optimal participation by the public, lacks optimal guarantee.

Ambition Secure a framework to allow for meaningful public participation in the country’s governance ecosystem, in all its variations; political, economic and social. Further open up the Parliament and County Assemblies by ensuring that all proceedings, both plenary and committee, are availed to the public for comprehensive scrutiny and robust engagement with the country’s law making system and regime. This is in furtherance of legislative openness in keeping with the 2012 ‘Declaration on Parliamentary Openness’ which in part provides that ‘parliamentary openness enables citizens to be informed about the work of parliament, empowers citizens to engage in the legislative process, allows citizens to hold parliamentarians to account and ensures that citizens’ interests are represented.’ By seeking to secure the place of civic education, focus shall also be trained on empowering and equipping the public with requisite capacity to meaningfully engage with and in public participation spaces and engender in them the consciousness to ensure that their voices count in the best way possible. Intensifying the use of technology, particularly coming against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, to accord multiple and diverse alternatives of public participation

No. Verifiable and measurable milestones to fulfill the commitment Status of milestone Start Date End Date 1. Entrench legislative openness through timely proactive disclosure of information and providing access to Parliamentary and county assemblies plenary and committee proceedings and timely publication of all proceedings New February 2021 December 2021 2. Develop publicly accessible petitions tracker for Parliament and select county assemblies New February 2021 December 2021 3. Enactment of the Public Participation Law in Parliament Ongoing February 2021 May 2022 4. Draft national Civic Education Legislation New February 2021 May 2022 5. Expanding civic space by operationalization of the Public Benefits Organization Act. New February 2021 May 2022 6. Adopt and enhance the use of technology as an enabler for public participation New February 2021 May 2022 7. Develop guidelines to guarantee inclusivity in public participation to include Women, Youth and Person with Disability, minority and marginalized communities New February 2021 May 2022 8. Institutionalization of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in Parliament at both technical and political level through existing mechanisms and regular Speakers’ Roundtable New February 2021 May 2022 9. Pursuant to County Governments Act, operationalize citizen service centers in at least five (5) counties to improve access to information on budget implementation, pursuant to Article 119 of the 2010 Constitution New February 2021 May 2022

Commitments

  1. Create public beneficial ownership register

    KE0024, 2020, Access to Information

  2. Implement e-government system adopting Open Contracting Data Standard

    KE0025, 2020, Access to Information

  3. Publish open data to spur innovation in public service delivery and development

    KE0026, 2020, Access to Information

  4. Increase efforts to promote public participation in the legislative process

    KE0027, 2020, Civic Space

  5. Apply County Peer Review Mechanism to improve public service delivery

    KE0028, 2020, E-Government

  6. Implement Access to Information Act

    KE0029, 2020, Access to Information

  7. Implement legislation to increase access to justice

    KE0030, 2020, Access to Justice

  8. Build institutional support of OGP

    KE0031, 2020, Capacity Building

  9. Beneficial Ownership

    KE0018, 2018, Access to Information

  10. Open Contracting

    KE0019, 2018, Access to Information

  11. Open Geo-Spatial Data for Development

    KE0020, 2018, Access to Information

  12. Public Participation

    KE0021, 2018, Capacity Building

  13. Governance Indices

    KE0022, 2018, Capacity Building

  14. Open Government Resiliency

    KE0023, 2018, Capacity Building

  15. More Transparent and Participatory Development of Climate Polices at the National and Subnational Level

    KE0010, 2016, Access to Information

  16. Enhancing Preventive and Punitive Mechanisms in the Fight Against Corruption and Unethical Practices

    KE0011, 2016, Anti-Corruption

  17. Enhance Transparency in the Legislative Process

    KE0012, 2016, E-Government

  18. Publish Oil and Gas Contracts

    KE0013, 2016, Anti-Corruption

  19. Starred commitment Ensure Greater Transparency Around Bids and Contracts

    KE0014, 2016, Anti-Corruption

  20. Create Transparent Public Procurement Process, Public Oversight of Expenditure and Ensure Value-For-Money Towards Citizen Priorities

    KE0015, 2016, Access to Information

  21. Improving Access to Government Budget Information and Creating Wider and More Inclusive Structures for Public Participation

    KE0016, 2016, E-Government

  22. Starred commitment Enhance Right to Information

    KE0017, 2016, Access to Information

  23. Starred commitment Improving Transparency in Electoral Processes: 1.A. Definition of Electoral Boundaries and Name.

    KE0001, 2012, Media & Telecommunications

  24. Improving Transparency in Electoral Processes: 2.B. Voting Information Online

    KE0002, 2012, Access to Information

  25. Promoting Public Participation: 1.B. End-To-End Service Delivery Portal

    KE0003, 2012, E-Government

  26. Promoting Public Participation: 1.D. Public Complaints Portal

    KE0004, 2012, E-Government

  27. Promoting Public Participation: 2.C. Kenya Action Plan Online

    KE0005, 2012, Public Participation

  28. Promoting Public Participation: 1.C. Open Data Portal

    KE0006, 2012, Access to Information

  29. Starred commitment Improving Transparency in the Judiciary: 2.A. Public Vetting of Judges and Case Allocation System

    KE0007, 2012, E-Government

  30. Open Budgets: 3.a. Improve Kenya's OBI Index

    KE0008, 2012, Fiscal Openness

  31. Open Budgets: 3.B. Increase Public Participation in Budgetary Processes

    KE0009, 2012, Access to Information

Open Government Partnership