CRECO County Model Policy Framework for Public Participation

7/24/2019 CRECO County Model Policy Framework for Public Participation

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MODEL POLICY FRAMEWORK

FOR PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

IN COUNTY GOVERNMENTS


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MODEL POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR

PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

IN COUNTY GOVERNMENTS

2014

Constuon and Reform Educaon Consorum(CRECO)


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Commissioned by:

Constuon & Reform Educaon Consorum (CRECO)[Muungano Wa Elimu Ya Kaba]

Matumbato Rd., O Upperhill Rd,Gate No. 39 Next To Internaonal Guest House

P.O. Box 2231 - 00200, City Square Nairobi KenyaTel: 020 2654724, Mobile 0722 209779

Copyright CRECO 2014

ISBN: 978-9966-043-03-0

Design, Layout & Prinng by:

Myner Logiscs

P.O. Box 9110- 00200 Nairobi

Tel: 020-2211890/1


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TABLE OF CONTENTSList of Acronyms..............................................................................................................iv

Acknowledgements..........................................................................................................v

Foreword ........................................................................................................................vi

POLICY CONTEXT1. ................................................................................................1

Introducon................................................................................................11.1

The raonale of the Policy Proposal ..........................................................21.2

Expected Outcome.....................................................................................21.3

Scope and Applicaon of the Policy...........................................................21.4

Historical Overview of Public Parcipaon in Kenya...................................31.5

BACKGROUND & CONCEPTS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION .....................................52.

Basic Assumpons Underlying Public Parcipaon............................................51.1.

Dening Policy ....................................................................................51.1.1.

Public Parcipaon..............................................................................51.1.2.

Who is the Public.................................................................................51.1.3.

Parcipaon as a Constuonal Right.................................................61.1.4.

Parcipaon of Persons with Disabilies.............................................61.1.5.

Parcipaon of Marginalised Communies........................................61.1.6.

Mainstreaming Gender & Youth Issues in County Development .......61.1.7.

Challenges...........................................................................................71.1.8.

Literature Review................................................................................................71.2.

Public Parcipaon in Internaonal & Regional Agreements ...........71.2.2.

Naonal Legislaons ..........................................................................91.2.3.

The Tuscan Law............................................................................9b)

Scotland......................................................................................10c)

Canada.......................................................................................10d)Georgia.......................................................................................10e)

South Africa................................................................................11f)

Constuonal and Legal Framework on Public Parcipaon ..........................111.3.

THE VALUE OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION ..............................................................163.

3.1. Introducon .......................................................................................................16

3.2. Measurable Gains for a Public parcipaon Policy.............................................17

3.3. Core Values of Public Parcipaon.....................................................................17

3.4. Public Parcipaon Principles............................................................................18

POLICY FRAMEWORK .......................................................................................204.

4.1 Sectoral Analysis & Emerging Policy Issues...................................................... 20

4.2 Legislave Funcons........................................................................................20

4.3 Service Delivery ...............................................................................................21

4.4 Environment.................................................................................................... 21

4.5 Budgeng.........................................................................................................21

4.6 Formulaon of IDPs ........................................................................................22

POLICY PROPOSALS AND IMPLEMENTATION FRAMEWORK...............................245.

STRATEGIES FOR PARTICIPATION.......................................................................326.

REFERENCES (To be done once the dra has been reviewed).............................397.


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LIST OF ACRONYMS

CBOs Community Based Organisaons

CDF Constuency Development Fund

CEC County Execuve Commiee

CIMES County Integrated Monitoring Systems

CBMS Community Based Monitoring System

CSAP Community Strategic Acon Plans

DFRD District Focus for Rural Development

FBOs Faith Based Organisaons

IDPs Integrated Development Plans

IEA Instute of Economic Aairs

KHRC Kenya Human Rights Commission

LASDP Local Authories Service Delivery Plan

MCA Member of County Assembly

NGOs Non Governmental Organisaons

NIMES Naonal Integrated Monitoring Systems

SFG Special Focus Groups


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ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Constuon and Reform Educaon Consorum (CRECO) gratefully acknowledges theCentre for Enhancing Democracy and Good Governance (CEDGG) for allowing us to

use their original report tled A proposal for Policy Framework for Eecve Public

Parcipaon for Nakuru County Governance and Development as the foundaon,

of this model public parcipaon framework. Their lead consultant Mr. Milton Obote

who conducted a thorough research in consideraon of both local and internaonal

experiences with regard to public parcipaon in governance and development

processes. We also acknowledge the CEDDG Sta who contributed to the development

of the original report. We also thank UNDP Amkeni Wakenya, for their nancial supportin the preparaon and producon of theoriginal report through CEDGG.

CRECO also wishes to thank its members who went through the report and gave

their feedback and inputs in a plenary meeng organized for that purpose. We also

acknowledge Policy Opons Kenya who edited the report factoring the inputs of CRECO

members and added value to make it what it is.

We would also like to sincerely thank all the sta members of CRECO Secretariat namely:

Zipporah Abaki, Joel Mungania, Renee Kamau, Boaz Mugoto, Martha Ndururi, Edna

Change, Moses Bakari and Regina Opondo.

Our sincere thanks also go to the Management Commiee: Ms. Rhoda Musyoka

(Chairperson), Mr. Aminer Owino (Vice- Chairperson), Mr. Masese Kemunche

(Secretary), Ms. Lydiah Gairira (Treasurer), Ms. Pauline Mbodze (Vice Secretary), Ms.

Asenath Nyamu (Member) and Mr. Peter Gitonga (Member) for guiding the Secretariat

towards excellence.

Our thanks go to Drivers of Accountability Program (DAP) for their support towards

the review of this framework and Humanist Instute for Cooperaon with Developing

Countries (HIVOS) Nairobi Oce, for their support towards the re-print of this book.

Regina Opondo

Execuve Secretary

CRECO Kenya


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FOREWORD

Kenyans have deep and longstanding concerns about the ways in which resources have

been distributed throughout the country. Many regions and communies felt that they

had been excluded by a strong central regime. The andote in the 2010 Constuon is,

on the one hand, devoluon of power to lower levels of government and, on the other

hand, an aempt to open up instuons at all levels and increase the opportunies for

public parcipaon, as well as greater checks by new bodies, such as the Controller of

Budget, the County Assemblies and the Senate.

It follows from this that public parcipaon is in part about aligning the needs and

demands of the public more closely with the choices of government ocials. This

suggests that public parcipaon must occur at the formulaon and approval stages

of the budget and planning, when priories are being set. At this stage, public

parcipaon will enhance decision making by bringing informaon about public needs

to the aenon of policy makers as they priorize their spending. This can lead to more

equitable distribuon of resources.

At the same me, concerns about corrupon and failure to account for resources

during the course of budget implementaon suggest that public parcipaon in Kenya

is also important during budget execuon and when budget performance is evaluated.

The same can be said about other planning and development processes. The public

has an oversight role to play that complements the County Assembly and other

bodies. Informaon that the public holds about the eecveness of public spending

at community level, can help inform the oversight process and improve budget

implementaon. Therefore, public parcipaon is essenal at all stages of the budget

process and other planning and development processes.

Public parcipaon is also about building the legimacy and credibility of government.

By engaging robustly with cizens, County government ocials can ensure support

for their programs and build condence in the competence of the administraon. This

in turn can encourage cizens to pay taxes, investors to commit funds, and donors

to top up exisng sources of revenue. Therefore eecve parcipaon will require

transparency and an eecve feedback loop in which cizen demands are responded

to and reasons are given for incorporang or not incorporang them. The success of a


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public parcipaon program is largely determined by how thoroughly and thoughully

it is planned. Successful meengs and events are determined by the degree to which

an agency eecvely commits to and prepares for the enre process, especially

creang and providing the informaon needed by stakeholders and building eecve

relaonships with key stakeholders.

The need for a county policy framework on cizen parcipaon is anchored on the

Constuon of Kenya 2010 and relevant Acts of parliament parcularly the County

Government Act 2012 among others. The main objecve of this publicaon is to

propose a framework for County policies on public parcipaon. This framework can

be adopted by any of the 47 Counes in Kenya. It outlines the six areas that must be

addressed by County governments if eecve cizen parcipaon is to be realized.

These include: Policy Context; Background and Concepts of Public Parcipaon;

Value of Public Parcipaon; Policy Framework; Policy Proposals and Implementaon

Framework; and Strategies for Parcipaon. The goal of this report is to provide a

template for actualizing viable county specic policies to entrench cizen parcipaon

in governance and development.

Angela Rhoda Musyoka

ChairpersonCRECO Management Commiee.


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POLICY CONTEXT1.0.

1.1 Introduction

The concept of public parcipaon in administraon has been heralded by all

democracies as the backbone of democrac governance. The appropriate role of the

public in administraon has been an acve and ongoing area of inquiry, experiment

and revoluon. The contemporary movement to examine the role of the public in the

process of administrave decision making has come about in response to problems

in the laer half of this century and as a result of concern on the part of the cizens,

administrators and policians over cizen discouragement and apathy (Box 1996;

Putnam 1995; Timney 1996; Thomas 1995).

Globally, parcipatory democracy is viewed as essenal to ensure a high level of

legimacy, contribute to empowerment and strengthen democracy. Parcipaon by

all stakeholders especially at local levels of government has come to be viewed as a

necessary condion for promong good governance.

Through this document we seek to provide a policy framework for public parcipaon

in Kenya. It builds on the commitment of the democrac government to deependemocracy which is rooted in the constuon, and above all in the in the concept of

communies as a composite of devoluon in the County Governments.

The policy seeks to deepen the involvement of local communies in County Governance

by incorporang village forums, ward commiees and the other stakeholders in

consultaon around key county process like Integrated Development Planning (IDP),

the budget, performance management and service delivery. This shall apply in respect

of implementaon, monitoring and evaluaon as well as planning.

The policy framework advocates for a form of parcipaon which is genuinely

empowering and not token consultaon or manipulaon. This involves a range

of acvies including creang structures at the ward level to support democrac

parcipaon and representaon and populang those structures with capacies to

plan, implement and monitor their plans. The human capital to power this approach is

drawn from the local working groups and CBOs.


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The Raonale of the Policy Proposal1.2.

The main purpose of this policy proposal is to provide for mechanisms by which the

public may parcipate in the aairs of the counes; openness, transparency and

accountability on the part of the county governments, polical structures and its

administraon by providing for cizens to exercise their right to public parcipaon

Expected Outcome1.3.

I t will create awareness and sensize both county oicials and county

cizens on the importance ofcizen parcipaon.

I t will enable County government fulfill the requisite condions for

capacitang county cizens to parcipate in the management of

county, sub-county and local governance and development while

holding duty bearersaccountable.

I t will enable duty bearers like the county government as well as

relevant NSAs in the county to assess their capacity to deliver a

people centered management of county resources.

I t will call upon duty bearersto adapt, develop and implement periodic,

ifnot connuousparcipatory capacity building methodologies in

order to involve, enlighten and empowercounty cizens.

I t lays out the template for an eecve county in fo rmation

management which predisposes county cizens toward eecve

oversight role in county governance and development.

Scope and Applicaon of the Policy1.4.

The policy develops the principles and sets out the ways and means of how they

will be achieved. These principles will be applied on a case by case basis when the

county governments engages the public and other stakeholders in developing county

legislaon, policy and strategy, and in implemenng , monitoring and evaluang polices

and projects as well as when evaluang the quality of the delivery of services.

This policy will however not apply to public parcipaon processes where naonal

(sectoral) legislaon prescribes the norms and standards to be used for those processes.

Where these legislated norms and standards do not exist and where they are below

those set by this policy, the county government may apply this policy to eecvely and

eciently execute the legislated public parcipaon.


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Historical Overview of Public Parcipaon in Kenya1.5.

Parcipatory Development in Kenya like in many other countries was for decades

conned to community development projects which were mainly donor funded and

supervised (Wakwabubi and Shiverenje, 2003).

Kenya aempted to instuonalize decentralized planning and implementaon of its

programmes as early as the 1960s through Sessional Papers. The most comprehensive

one was the District Focus for Rural Development (DFRD) Strategy which became

operaonal in 1983. However, the Strategy emphasized involvement of central

government eld workers in planning and implementaon of programmes and therefore

ignored indigenous knowledge and experiences. Chitere and Ireri (2004) notes this

is contrary to the concepon of the parcipatory approach. Ideally in parcipaon,

development workers such as civil servants have a role in facilitang the process through

assisng communies to idenfy and solve their own problems.

The DFRD Strategy also faced challenges in implementaon because it lacked statutory

anchorage that could entrench the coordinang commiees in the law. The operaons

were carried out administravely rather than legally. This has been a characterisc

of decentralized policies in Kenya whereby some funds have been created by Acts of

Parliament and therefore have had legal backing. However, others have been created

through policy pronouncements and consequently have had no guarantee of connuity

(KHRC and SPAN, 2010).

The enactment of the Physical Planning Act in 1996 saw further evoluon of parcipatory

development. The Statute did provide for community parcipaon in the preparaon

and implementaon of physical and development plans. However, its major shorall

is the lack of the crical element of community sensizaon on their roles. Physical

planning is also centralized in major towns and thus communies residing in remote

areas remained marginalized in parcipatory planning (Okello, 2008).

Over the past one decade, the LASDAP and CDF have been the main vehicles of

community parcipaon at the local level. The LASDAP was introduced in 2001 through

a ministerial circular whilst the CDF was established in 2003 through the CDF Act (2004).

The LASDAP were a three year rolling plans that are required to have a poverty focus

with priority areas in health, educaon and infrastructure (Kibua and Oyugi, 2006). TheLASDAP provided opportunies for the local authories to construcvely engage with


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local communies on maers of planning, budgeng and development (Ministry of

Local Government, 2009).

The CDF Act on the other hand targets constuency level development projects

parcularly those aiming to combat poverty at the Constuency level.

Devoluon is widely seen as a mechanism to instuonalize cizen parcipaon in

development planning, increase the opportunies for polical parcipaon thereby

enhancing democrac polical culture (Ndulo, 2006), and enhance communies sense

of ownership (Oloo, 2006).


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2.0. BACKGROUND AND CONCEPTSOF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

2.1. Basic Assumpons Underlying Public ParcipaonPublic parcipaon has been dened in various ways by dierent people, and for a

variety of reasons. For purposes of this policy, public parcipaon is dened as an open,

accountable process through which individuals and groups within selected communies

can exchange views and inuence decision making.

It is further dened as a democrac process of engaging people, deciding, planning and

playing an acve part in the development and operaon of services that aect their

lives.

2.1.1. DefiningPolicy

Refers in general to a purposive course of acon that an individual or group consistently

follow in dealing with a problem (Anderson 2006). It is a standing decision characterized

by behavioral consistency and repeveness on the part of both those who make it and

those who abide by it.

2.1.2. Public Parcipaon

IAP2 (2002) denes public parcipaon as the process by which an organisaon

consults with interested or aected individuals, organisaons and government enes,before making a decision. In essence, parcipaon gives voice to the voiceless and

agency to aend to the needs of the marginalised, in this way the publics needs

come rst through posive development

2.1.3. Who is the Public?

The general public can be treated as one coherent whole only disnguished by dierent

interests. Michiel S De Vries (2007) oers that the public does not exist as such but that

there are prot organisaons, not for prot organisaons, religious organisaons, the

media and polical party groups all which are groups within the public sector and the

public in general.

Cizens can parcipate as individuals, interest groups or communies more generally.

In Kenya, in the context of public parcipaon, communies are administravely

zoned from the villages to the sub locaons up to the naonal level, with elected

representaves. The lowest cadre of representaon is at the ward level where the

ward commiees play a central role in bridging the hierarchies of representaon. These

ward commiees may be made up of technical persons in the dierent interest groups

from the general public.


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2.1.4. Parcipaon as a Constuonal Right

The Fourth Schedule of the Constuon gives counes the power to ensure and

coordinate the parcipaon of communies and locaons in governance at the local

level and assisng communies and locaons to develop the administrave capacity for

the eecve exercise of the funcons and powers and parcipaon in the governance at

the local level. Conversely, devoluon may lead to the translaon of naonal government

bureaucracies, poor ulizaon of resources, rent seeking and lack of accountability to

the sub-naonal units. With the foregoing therefore, policies to support new, exible

approaches to ensuring a greater degree or acve parcipaon by cizens are needful

and captured in the constuonal framework below.

2.1.5. Public Parcipaon of Persons with Disabilies

The policy envisaged should re-state its commitment to the concepts of equality and

non-discriminaon. Addionally, it should restate an unambiguous commitment to

armave acon and equal opportunity if parcipaon in governance and development

is to be realized by all individuals and groups of people regardless of bias factors as

ethnicity, race, colour, religion, sex, sexual orientaon, age, genec informaon, or

disability.

2.1.6. PublicParticipationof theMarginalizedCommunities

The Constuon providesthat the marginalized and minorieshave the right to fully

parcipate in the integrated social and economic life ofKenya asa whole and in the

counesin parcular. Counes should pass legislaon that promotes the interests and

rights of minories and marginalised communies in county development.

2.1.7. MainstreaminggenderandYouthIssuesinCountyDevelopment

Airmave acon in respect of gender and youth cannot be gainsaid. Its therefore

incumbent upon any government that aspires towards equality, non-discriminaon

and inclusivity to frame viable modalies by which gender, youth and children are

factored in every strategic decision. These variables are not just traits of individuals

but are an instuonalized system of social pracces. So factoring gender means

howwe deal with social system ofpracces.


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2.1.8. Challenges

Policy concerns emanang from the examinaon of the past and present devolved

structures are:

All of these eorts are piecemeal in nature. Though the law has provided

avenues for engaging, they result in random and uncoordinated engagements

with the public and county structures since they are derived from separate

legislave and policy mandates that are more oen on ad hoc basis.

There is no integraon and readily available and comprehensible informaon

on how eecve, ecient and responsive the county government structures

are to the public.

The need to create awareness amongst duty bearers and cizens on what public

parcipaon is and its importance.

The need to build the capacity of cizens to enhance their parcipaon in the

management of local aairs and projects, and to hold duty bearers accountable.

Duty bearers also need connuous capacity enhancement on parcipatory

methodologies.

Poor informaon management on the part of the duty bearers.

Therefore, through this policy, the County Governments will introduce a coordinated,

managed and evaluated approach to achieving meaningful public parcipaon and

consultaon as provided for in the constuon and other enabling statutes.

2.2. LITERATURE REVIEWOF SELECTED INTERNATIONAL BEST PRACTICES

2.2.1. Public Parcipaon in Internaonal and Regional Agreements

Internaonal and regional agreements, as well as popular pressure to open up

governmental decision-making processes are spurring governments to take steps to

improve transparency, parcipaon and accountability.

The Internaonal Associaon for Public Parcipaon (IAP2) promotes and seeks to

improve the pracce of public parcipaon in relaon to individuals, governments,

instuons, and other enes that aect the public interest in naons throughout the

world. The internaonal associaon for public parcipaon core values includes;

Public parcipaon is based on the belief that those who are aected by a1.

decision have a right to be involved in the decision-making process.

Public parcipaon includes the promise that the publics contribuon will2.inuence the decision.


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Public parcipaon promotes sustainable decisions by recognizing and3.

communicang the needs and interests of all parcipants, including decision

makers.

Public parcipaon seeks out and facilitates the involvement of those potenally4.

aected by or interested in a decision.

Public parcipaon seeks input from parcipants in designing how they5.

parcipate.

Public parcipaon provides parcipants with the informaon they need to6.

parcipate in a meaningful way.

Public parcipaon communicates to parcipants how their input aected the7.

decision.

The Internaonal Covenant on Civil and Polical Rights(ICCPR) provides safeguards to

public parcipaon and they include:

Arcle 25- Every cizen shall have the right and the opportunity, without any of the

disncons menoned in arcle 2 and without unreasonable restricons: (a) to take

part in the conduct of public aairs, directly or through freely chosen representaves;

Arcle 27- In those States in which ethnic, religious or linguisc minories exist, persons

belonging to such minories shall not be denied the right, in community with the other

members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to profess and pracce their own

religion, or to use their own language.

The South African Constuonal Court in Doctors for Life Internaonal v The Speaker

of the Naonal AssemblyCase CCT 12/05, said of Arcle 25:

The ICCPR guarantees not only the right but also the opportunity to take part

in the conduct of public aairs. This imposes an obligaon on states to take posive

steps to ensure that their cizens have an opportunity to exercise their right to

polical parcipaon.

Arcle 13 of the United Naons Convenon Against Corrupon obligates state pares

to take appropriate measures within its domesc law to promote acve parcipaon

of individuals and groups outside the public sector such as the civil society, non-

governmental organisaons and community based organisaons in the prevenon ofand in the ght against corrupon through enhancing transparency and promong the


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contribuon of the public to decision making process as well as ensuring the public

has eecve access to informaon.

In 1990, the African leadership meeng in Arusha, Tanzania enacted the African Charter

for Popular Parcipaon in Development and Transformaon whose objecve is to

recognise the role of peoples parcipaon in development and dene appropriate

approaches to the promoon of popular parcipaon in policy formulaon, planning,

implementaon, monitoring and evaluaon of development programmes. Arcle 11 of

the Charter arms the empowerment of the people to eecvely involve themselves

in creang the structures and in designing policies and programmes that serve the

interest of all as well as to eecvely contribute to the development process and share

equitably in its benet.

At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, naons from around the world adopted Principles of

the Rio Declaraon, where Principle 10 of the Declaraon emphasises the importance

of public access to informaon, parcipaon in decision making process and access

to judicial procedures and remedies. Agenda 21 of the Rio Plan of Acon commied

governments to pursue broader public parcipaon in decision making process and

policy formulaon for sustainable development.

In 1988, the United Naons Economic Commission for Europe adopted the Convenon

on Access to Informaon, Public Parcipaon in decision making and Access to Jusce

in Environmental maers (De Villiers, 2001:122).

The Declaraon of the Internaonal Conference on Public Parcipaon held in Guateng,

South Africa (The Guateng Declaraon of March 2012) stressed the importance of public

parcipaon as an essenal ingredient to good governance and human development,

whose ulmate objecve is to improve the livelihood outcomes of people.

2.2.2 Naonal Legislaons:

a) The Tuscan Law

Under the recent amendments to the constuon of Italy, regions have considerable

power, including residual legislave power. One of the regions, Tuscany has enacted a

broad based legislave framework. The remarkable features of this legislaon (Regional

Law 69 0f 27 Dec. 2007) include:A right to parcipate


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The creaon of a single person authority for the guarantee and promoon of

parcipaon

Training programmes to develop a civic and parcipatory culture

Groups within the community (provided they reach a certain percentage of the

community) may ask for nancial assistance with parcipaon

Priority given to parcipaon exercises that involve the vulnerable or

disadvantaged, including the disabled, development on land that will have

signicant potenal impact on the landscape or environment; that facilitate

gender-balanced parcipaon; that adopt innovave forms of communicaon

especially that permit the peorple to be involved in the nal stages of the

process.

b) Scotland

The Scosh Parliament (2000) proclaimed that this parliament was elected on a

promise: that policy making would be more open, parcipatory and consultave. That

is what the people of Scotland expect of us. Our success in meeng the promise of

openness and accountability will be a litmus test of our achievement of the wider

aspiraon of devoluon (De Villiers, 2001:115).

This statement by the Scosh Parliament embodies the internaonal trends and

developments with regard to the noon of public parcipaon. It reiterates the renewed

commitment to and view of public parcipaon as an essenal ingredient to democracy.

Public parcipaon in pracce is regarded as contribuon to empowerment and

educaon of the public as well as enhancing the stability and legimacy of democracy.

c) Canada

In the Canadian democracy, public parcipaon in government decision-making is now

a regular aspect of polical life. It became a feature of public policy in Canada from the

1960s and 1970s with the consequence that today; decisions by government without

public parcipaon are the excepon rather than the rule. The Canadian Constuon

and general legislaon do not provide for public parcipaon, yet it now plays a

signicant role in policy and law-making (De Villiers, 2001:117-118).

d) Georgia

Georgias new law on self-governance that came into force in 2005 obliges municipaliesto ensure that acve parcipaon of society, seek ways of co-operaon with them and


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ensure transparency, accountability, socio-economic development, civil parcipaon

and improvement of living standards especially for vulnerable people (Oxfam GB,

2009).

e) South Africa

The culture of public parcipaon in South Africa has been inslled through the struggle

process during the Apartheid era since it relied on and provided an avenue for mass

parcipaon by persons excluded from formal state parcipaon. The rst opportunity

for formal direct mass parcipaon by all the peoples of South Africa was vong in the

rst democrac elecons on 27thApril 1994 (Barnes 2006:1) since then, polical oce

bearers have been calling for public parcipaon in public aairs connuously since

a democrac government was introduced. The calls have been accompanied by the

promulgaon of legislaon which encourages public parcipaon in governance and

polics, indicang that public parcipaon has a role to play in democracy.

2.3 CONSTITUTIONAL AND LEGAL FRAMEWORK ON PUBLIC PARTICIPATION

(a) Constuon of Kenya 2010

The Constuon of Kenya 2010 lays the basis for the development of a policy framework

on public parcipaon. The envisaged public parcipaon policy will therefore have

to focus relavely more on what the constuon refers to asthe direct exercise

of the peoples sovereignty. Thisisthe kind ofparcipaon where people who are,

forwhateverreason, excluded from the normal social and polical, even economic,

life of the naon are far less likely to be able to parcipate acvely certainly at the

naonal and county level (Gill 2012).

Key provisions pertaining to this are:

Arcle 1 that vests sovereign power in the people of Kenya and is exercised at both the

naonal and county levels.

The importance of public parcipaon is aptly captured in Arcle 10 (2) (a) of the

constuon which states that the naonal values and principles of governance include

patriosm, naonal unity, sharing and devoluon of power, the rule of law, democracy

and parcipaon of the people.

The Government in Arcle 69 is obligated to encourage public parcipaon in the

management, protecon and conservaon of the environment.


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The constuon has gone further to provide for instances where the voice and

endorsement of the public is a compulsory requirement. In Arcles 91, 94, 118 and

119 cizens have a right to parcipate in a polical movement of their choice, while

parliament is required to give the public an avenue to parcipate in legislaon and

presenng peons to public authories.

The objects and principles of devolved government under Arcle 174 give powers of self

governance to the people and enhance their parcipaon in the exercise of the powers

of the state in making decisions that aect them while recognizing the powers of the

communies to manage their own aairs and to further their own development.

County Assemblies are required to conduct their business in an open manner and hold

its sings and those of its commiees in public and facilitate public parcipaon in the

legislave and other business of the assembly and its commiees (Arcle 169). The

involvement of cizens in policy making and implementaon is important to strengthen

and deepen democrac governance. It is through acve public parcipaon that

evidence based policy making and responsive service delivery can take place.

The naonal legislaon contemplated in Arcle 184 (1) to provide for the governance

and management of urban areas and cies and to in parcular provide for parcipaon

by residents in the governance of urban areas and cies.

Arcle 201: provides for principles of public nance management that includes

publicaon parcipaon in nance maers

Arcle 221 (5): the Budget and Appropriaons Commiee to seek public input when

reviewing budget esmates and the recommendaons shall be taken into account

when the commiee presents its report to the House

Arcle 232 (1) (d) & (f); Public Service values principles require involvement of thepeople in the process of policy making; transparency and provision to the public of

mely and accurate informaon

The Fourth Schedule under Part 2 (14) spulates that funcons and powers of the

County are to ensure and coordinate the parcipaon of communies and locaons

and locaons in governance at the local level. Counes are also to assist communies

to develop the administrave capacity for the eecve exercise of the funcons and

powers and parcipaon in governance at the local level.


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b) The County Government Act, 2012

The enactment of the County Government Act places an obligaon on the County

Governments to create an enabling environment for cizens involvement in running

the aairs of the Counes. Chapter VIII of the Act is devoted to cizen parcipaon

therefore giving a demonstrave emphasis of the importance of this right in the eyes

of the law.

Secon 87 provides for cizen parcipaon at the county level based on the following

principles:

Timely access to informaon, data, documents and informaon relevant to

policy formulaon and implementaon

Reasonable access to the process of formulang and implemenng policies,

laws and regulaonsProtecon and promoon of the interest and rights of minories,

marginalised groups and communies

Avenues for legal redress to interested or aected persons or

organisaons

Shared responsibilies and partnership between county governments and

non-state actors in decision making

Promoon of public private partnerships

Secon 88 provides that cizens have a right to peon the county government on

maers under the responsibility of the county government

Arcle 89: county government authories are under obligaon to respond expediously

to peons and challenges from cizens

Arcle 90: counes to conduct referendum on local issues

Arcle 91 of the Act goes further to demand parcular minimum Structures for

Parcipaon are set up by the county Governments. It provides the following structures

to be established and used to reach out to the public as an invitaon to engage:-

County hall meengs

Noce boards, vacancy announcements, job appointments

Tenders and procurement awards

Development project sites

Establishment of cizen forums at county and decentralised units


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c) The Urban Areas and Cies Act No. 13 of 2011

Secon 36 of the Act provides for the development of Integrated Development Plans

(IDPS). The Second Schedule to the Act provides the right of and parcipaon by

residents in the aairs of the city or urban areas through the following mediums:

Wrien or oral presentaonsi)

City or urban area is obligated to develop a system of governance thatii)

encourages parcipaon by residents in its aairs

The 2ndSchedule of the Act provides for the rights of and parcipaon by residents in

aairs of their city or urban areas.

d) Inter-Governmental Relaons Act 2012

Secon 29 Regulaons to provide for the framework for public parcipaon in the

transfer or delegaon of powers, funcons or competencies by either level

e) Public Finance Management Act 2012

S. 137 establishes the County Budget Economic Forum that shall have representaves

nominated by organisaons represenng professionals, business, labour issues, women,

Persons with disabilies, elderly, Faith Based groups at the county level

S. 128 (2) requires the County Execuve member for Finance to issue a circular seng

out guidelines to be followed in the budget process. The circular should provide details

on how cizens can parcipate in the county budget making process

Secon 207 necessitates the Cabinet Secretary in charge of Finance to dra regulaons

to provide for structures, mechanisms, processes and procedure for parcipaon

Emerging Policy Gaps

Provision for a recourse mechanism where acon against public bodies can be1.

taken if informaon is unduly withheld.

County governments should publish and widely disseminate any informaon2.

of public signicance in concordance with the relevant legislaon on Access to

Informaon.

Strengthen mechanisms of communicaon such as the sub-county desk oce3.

and explore alternave methods of disseminang informaon.


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The need to give sucient noce of meengs to enable communies4.

adequately prepare to aend and parcipate eecvely in consultaons.

Where guidelines for parcipaon exist, there is no commitment towards5.

implemenng them. There is need to sensize both communies and duty

bearers on the importance of cizen parcipaon.

There is need for a calendar of acvies to enable cizens engage eecvely6.

at various stages of the development cycle.

Nee7. d to designate funds to facilitate the process of cizen awareness creaon.


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VALUE OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION3.0

3.1. Introducon

There are two broad dimensions of cizen parcipaon namely, indirect involvement

and direct involvement.

Indirect involvement acknowledges that elected ocials and professional administrators

should act on behalf of the cizens in a representave democracy. Under Arcle 1 (3) of

the Constuon, the Sovereign power of the people is delegated to state organs, which

includes the County assemblies and execuves.

Direct involvement suggests that cizens are the owners of the government and should

be involved in the decisions of the State (Yang and Callahan, 2005).

This policy proposal therefore focuses on direct parcipaon as earlier put. This

dimension is administrave centric. It simply means that it focuses on the role of the

public in the process of administrave decision-making or their involvement in decision-

making in relaon to service delivery. Since it occurs primarily at the administrave-

cizen interface, direct parcipaon therefore diers from polical parcipaon. The

laer includes but is not limited to vong in elecons, contacng elected ocials and

campaigning for polical candidates (Yang and Callahan, 2005).

The imperave for cizen parcipaon is also drawn from their statutory duty to pay

taxes for service delivery. This means that they are not only consumers of services but

essenal nanciers of government revenue.

As a starng-point to strengthen community-based/ cizen involvement in decision

making within the devolved units, counes should build on exisng non state actors

and sectoral district forums. The sectoral district forums will include such communies

of interest or focus groups such as business communies, Jua kali associaons, women

and youth welfare and self help groups etc.

County Governments should conduct community proling and needs assessments to

inform capacity building. This will include the analysis of technological capabilies ofthe communies, assessments of atudes, value systems and literacy levels. These


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interest groups could be called upon on round table meengs or fora which could be

used to bring together the County governments, civil society and other stakeholders

to deliberate on acons and programmes. The stakeholder discussions should include

opportunies for mul-sectoral groups to come together to make input on broader

policy.

This framework advocates for a partnership approach between cizens and government.

It collapses administrave silos to within the ward commiees and recognizes the

decisions made at the ward level.

3.2 Measurable Gains for a Public Parcipaon Policy

Increased level of informaon in communies.

Informed priories.

Eecve and ecient service delivery.

Developed capacies of the community and human capital.

Eecve Community Based Monitoring System (CBMS) as one tool that can

be modied and adopted by county governments to develop evidence based

strategic plans.

Equalizaon and redistribuon of wealth and development.

Community integraon and ownership.

3.3 Core Values of Public Parcipaon

In order to actualise the above potenal benets the following values which cut across

all areas of public parcipaon will provide a useful benchmark for legislaon.

Public parcipaon is based on the belief that those who are aected by a

decision have a right to be involved in the decision-making process.

Public parcipaon includes the promise that the publics contribuon willinuence the decision.

Public parcipaon promotes sustainable decisions by recognizing and

communicang the needs and interests of all parcipants, including decision

makers.

Public parcipaon seeks out and facilitates the involvement of those

potenally aected by or interested in a decision.

Public parcipaon seeks input from parcipants in designing how they

parcipate.


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Public parcipaon provides parcipants with the informaon they need to

parcipate in a meaningful way.

Public parcipaon communicates to parcipants how their input aected the

decision.

3.4 Public Parcipaon Principles in the Policy

This policy framework is guided by the following principles as advocated by Khanya

(2002):

Inclusivity- embracing all views and opinions in the process of community

parcipaon.

Diversity - In a community parcipaon process it is important to understand the

dierences associated with race, gender, religion, ethnicity, language, age, economic

status and sexual orientaon. These dierences should be allowed to emerge and

where appropriate, ways sought to develop a consensus. Planning processes must build

on this diversity.

Building community parcipaon Capacity-building is the acve empowerment of

role players so that they clearly and fully understand the objecve of public parcipaon

and may in turn take such acons or conduct themselves in ways that are calculated to

achieve or lead to the delivery of the objecves.

Transparency- promong openness, sincerity and honesty among all the role players

in a parcipaon process.

Flexibility - the ability to make room for change for the benet of the parcipatory

process. Flexibility is oen required in respect of ming and methodology. If built into the

parcipatory processes upfront, this principle allows for adequate public involvement,

realisc management of costs and beer ability to manage the quality of the output.

Accessibility at both mental and physical levels - collecvely aimed at ensuring

that parcipants in a public parcipaon process fully and clearly understand the

aim, objecves, issues and the methodologies of the process, and are empowered to

parcipate eecvely. Accessibility ensures not only that the role players can relate to

the process and the issues at hand, but also that they are, at the praccal level, able tomake their input into the process.


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Accountability - the assumpon by all the parcipants in a parcipatory process of

full responsibility for their individual acons and conduct as well as a willingness and

commitment to implement, abide by and communicate as necessary all measures and

decisions in the course of the process.

Trust, Commitment and Respect- Above all, trust is required in a public parcipatory

process. Invariably, however, trust is used to refer to faith and condence in the integrity,

sincerity, honesty and ability of the process and those facilitang the process. Going

about parcipaon in a rush without adequate resource allocaons will undoubtedly be

seen as a public relaons exercise likely to diminish the trust and respect of community

in whoever is conducng the process in the long term, to the detriment of any public

parcipaon processes.

Integraon that public parcipaon processes are integrated into mainstream policies

and services, such as the IDP process, service planning.

Table 1. Examples of the praccal applicaon of these principles

Principle Examples of applying these principles

Inclusivity Idenfying and recognizing exisng social networks, structures,organisaons, social clubs and instuons and use them as avehicle for communicaon

Diversity Ensure that dierent interest groups including women, thedisabled and youth groups are part of governance structures

Buildingcommunitycapacity

Solicit funding from external sources to train ward commieeson their role in developmentEmbarking on consumer educaon on all aspects of localgovernance including the funcons and responsibilies of themunicipality and dierent municipal structures

Transparency Engendering trust in the community by opening council meengsto the public and encouraging aendance

Flexibility Being exible in terms of me, language and approaches topublic meengs

Accessibility Conducng public meengs in the local language

Accountability Ensuring report backs to community forums or ward commieesat least on a quarterly basis

Trust,Commitmentand Respect

Ensuring that the purpose of the process is explained adequately,as well as how it will develop

Integraon Integrang ward planning with the IDP process

Including user commiees into mainstream services, eg SchoolGoverning Bodies


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POLICY FRAMEWORK4.0

SECTOR ANALYSIS AND EMERGING POLICY ISSUES4.1

Each county has its peculiar and specic challenges which may and shall be legislated

upon. As a general provision, a policy may emanate from a research nding or a

legislave requirement.

In the context of this policy framework, it has sought to give the county governments

a wide plaorm on which to exercise their individual opportunies in developing

intervenons to their own problems.

The Counes do not funcon in isolaon, in the contrary; their legislave mandate is

enshrined in Arcle 185 of the Constuon of Kenya 2010. Further, under Part 2 of the

Fourth schedule, the constuon has dened the funcons and powers of the County

Governments while other devolved funcons will or may be devolved to the counes

on a need basis.

It is therefore in the ideal of this tool to suggest areas where the counes may visit their

aenon to incorporate avenues of public and cizen parcipaon as follows:-

Legislave Funcons4.2

The basic law in this framework is the County Government Act of 2012. In parcular

the expectaons of the Act are to achieve a grossly consultave approach to public

development.

The constuon under Arcle 196 obligates County Assemblies to conduct business

in an open manner and hold its sings and those of its commiees in public and

facilitate public parcipaon and involvement in the legislave and other business of

the assembly and its commiees.

Among the measures the County Assemblies need to instute in order to enhance

closer contact with the electorate includes:

Conducng public educaon and provide informaon about the Assemblies

and its work


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Providing a plaorm for people to access and parcipate in the processes of

the Assemblies

Facilitang public input and feedback

Providing ground and logiscal support for Assembly programmes and

acvies

Co-ordinang and co-operang with other spheres of government

Publicising their willingness to receive submissions on legislaon and other

maers, and giving advice on how to do it

4.3 Service Delivery

Service delivery is the special vehicle in delivering the economic and social rights as

envisaged in Arcle 43 of the constuon. The importance of service delivery, especially

to poor and marginalized communies means that great care must be taken to consult

these communies whenever new iniaves around service delivery are under taken or

problem with service delivery arise.

In respect of new service agreements or development projects it is strongly

recommended that consultaon with the local communies aected occur through

a stakeholder commiee comprising the ward commiees of the aected areas, and

relevant stakeholder groups. Consultaons must address all phases of the service

delivery or development project, including local planning, monitoring and evaluaon.

4.4 Environment

The Constuon of Kenya makes specic menon of the need for parcipaon in the

context of protecon of the environment: where cizens are encouraged to parcipate

in the management, protecon and conservaon of the environment (Art. 69).This

reects an internaonal realisaon of the value of parcipaon in making environmental

protecon eecve something that is of value, properly viewed, from the perspecves

of both the people and the government. This Arcle has been incorporated by reference

into the right to a habitable environment provided for under Arcle 42 that entles

every person to a clean and healthy environment

4.5 Budgeng

The Constuon provides that

there shall be openness and accountability, including public parcipaon in

nancial maers (Art. 201)


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When the Senate is preparing its proposals on the allocaon of resources to

the counes it must invite the public, including professional bodies, to make

submissions to it on the maer (Art 217)

In discussing and reviewing the annual esmates from the Ministry of Finance,

the relevant commiee of the Naonal Assembly must seek representaons

from the public and the recommendaons shall be taken into account when the

commiee makes its recommendaons to the Naonal Assembly (Art. 221).

County Governments are obligated to establish County Budget Economic Forums

(Secon 137 PFM Act) whose purpose is to provide means for consultaon by the

county government on:

Preparaon of county plans, county scal strategy paper and the budgeti)

review and outlook paper for the county

Maers relang to budgeng, the economy and nancial management atii)

the county level

Secon 9 of the Dra Public Finance (Administraon and Management) Regulaons,

Government enes shall provide nancial informaon to the public which is accessible

to the cizens by

Establishing a focal point to facilitate access to nancial informaon;a)

Making informaon available in the media;b)

Presenng informaon in naonal languages and summarised forms; andc)

Regular update of relevant websitesd)

While the PFMA secon 107 demands that county governments restrain themselves

from deviang from their scal responsibilies. It connues to set out principles

which demand a thirty percent of the revenue to be dedicated to development

expenditure.

4.6 Formulaon of Integrated Development Plans

Minories and Marginalised

Following the principles espoused in the constuon, development planning in Kenya

should be based on integrated naonal values, equity, resource mobilisaon and

concerns of the minories and marginalised groups.


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The interests of these special categories of the community have been properly canvassed

in the bill of rights.

Arcle 47 of the constuon oers an avenue where individuals have a right to

demand quality, sucient and mely administrave services from public oces.

Arcle 220 (2) (a) of the Constuon states that:

Naonal legislaon shall prescribe the structure of development plans and budgets.

The constuon also requires an integrated development planning framework to

enhance linkage between policy, planning and budgeng.

Integrated development planning will govern the preparaon of annual county budgets

and no public funds will be appropriated without a planning framework as spulated in

Part XI of the County Government Act.

This planning at the county level shall be guided by the relevant legislaon taking into

consideraon of the principles of public parcipaon as provided for in Secon 87 of

the County Government Act.


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POLICY PROPOSALS AND5.0.

IMPLEMENTATION FRAMEWORK

The County Governments in consultaon with relevant sectors shall set out a framework

for the implementaon of this policy. The envisaged framework will provide for the

creaon of the Public Parcipaon Department in each County and the policy principles

to guide its operaons.

Policy Issue #1. Cizen Awareness & Access to Informaon5.1.

Access to informaon is a constuonal right. The success of devoluon is highly

pegged on this right of the cizens to informaon. The cizenry are required to be

polically conscious and have access to informaon. They must not only be aware of

their rights and responsibilies but also know the channels via which they can exercise

them (Omolo, 2010).

The right to access informaon held by the government is a fundamental human right

well recognized in Internaonal Law. Kenya has domescated a number of convenons

on freedom of informaon and this has been well captured in Arcle 35 (1) of the

Constuon which states that every cizen has the right to access informaon held

by the State. Further, Arcle 35(3) states that the State shall publish and publicize any

important informaon aecng the naon.

Further, secons 87 to 97 of the County Government Act envisage access to informaon

as a public right. The Act under secon 87 provides in strict demand that:

Timely access to informaon, reasonable access process of policy making, protecon

and promoon of interests and rights of minories, legal standing, balance in role and

obligaons of county government and NSAs, Public Private Partnerships, reciprocal

role of NSAs and County Government.

Policy objecve: Access to informaon is crucial as a right in its own regard and is also

central to the funconing of democracy and enforcement of other rights. Without it

the principles of devoluon as enshrined in Arcle 174 of the constuon will not be

realised. To guard against this, it is imperave that a legislaon that requires counesto adopt principles of maximum openness is put in place.


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Policy principle #1: Access to Informaon is a constuonal guarantee.

Policy Principle #2: it shall be an integral part of the county administraon and other

duty bearers to make available informaon to the public either on need basis or as a

right whenever requested.

Acon Points:

Promote sharing of informaon through use of accessible channels of1.

communicaon. These should include county websites, transparency noce

boards, SMS, local newsleers, local or community radio, TV, barazas and any

other media.

Provide mely informaon and sucient noce of not less than one (1) month2.

for forthcoming planning meengs.

Provide informaon in formats accessible to a wide group of people including3.

persons with disabilies and translate to local language where necessary.

Promote awareness by designang a percentage of the county budget towards4.

funding community civic and educaon programmes.

Provide for free media me from all media channels and papers to support the5.

naonal cause.

Provide for strict me limits for processing of requests for informaon and6.

refusals to be accompanied by substanve wrien reasons.

A list of reasons for non-disclosure should be provided for in legislaon and in7.

concordance with the Access to Informaon legislaon and made public.

Costs of accessing informaon should be reasonable as not to deter potenal8.

informaon seekers. This should be specied and standardized across all

counes.

Prescribe penales for failure to disclose informaon within spulated me9.

and in contravenon of the legimate reasons for non-disclosure. Relevant

oce may pay a ne as determined by court of law.

Policy Issue #2: Capacity Building5.2.

Capacity building consists of developing knowledge, skills and operaonal capacity

so that individuals and groups may achieve their purposes (Okello et al, 2008). For

cizens to engage eecvely, they need the necessary knowledge and skills on how to

execute the responsibilies


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Policy objecve: To promote community involvement in policy formulaon,

implementaon and in all stages of project cycle management to achieve sustainability

of development iniaves and enhance poverty reducon.

Policy principle 1: Capacity building shall be an ongoing process built into the community

parcipatory framework or instuons at county and ward levels.

Policy principle 2: Training shall be sensive to and target or capture concerns and

needs of dierent social categories of the community.

Acon Points:

County governments community proling and needs assessments survey1.

to inform capacity building. This will include the analysis of technological

capabilies of the communies, and an assessment of atudes, value systems

and literacy levels. It may also capture other social and economic indicators

that may be useful in tailoring the training curricular and modes of delivery.

The overall goal would be to empower stakeholders to formulate proposals and

plans, implement projects and ensure their sustainable management.

Community proling and training needs assessment may be done through2.

Focus Group Discussions and formal meengs with local leaders, CSOs and

CBOs. Idencaon of resource persons who may be trained as trainers may

be useful to achieve this.

Organize community training on various and priorized or localized subjects and3.

themes or agendas that will enhance their parcipaon. Any other necessary

skill may also be idened through the needs assessment.

Periodic or bi-annual connuous and refresher training courses for duty bearers4.

on parcipatory methodologies. The training shall facilitate atudinal and

behaviour change within government organizaons and departments.

Capacity building can be done through a staggered process to ensure that it is5.

eecvely and eciently devolved to the ward levels. Key resource persons in

the Ward Cizens Forum should be included in capacity building programmes.

Encourage training and documentaon in local language and the use of creave6.

media such as drama, art and music.

Make adequate budgetary provisions and work plans for the training7.

seminars.


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Policy Issue #3: Planning and Implementaon5.3.

Communies are insuciently prepared to parcipate in planning meengs. The voice

of cizens in various planning forums would be more eecve if the cizens were

organized in groups to present their priories collecvely. Poor planning parcularly

within the CDF structures have oen contributed to the high incompleon rates of

projects especially where technical experse is not applied.

Another challenge facing community parcipaon in implementaon processes is the

failure or apathy of the middle class and local elite to engage in development processes.

The middle class rarely aend chiefs barazas or CDF commiees, and there is need to

sensize and animate them to their social responsibility.

Cizen parcipaon in planning5.3.1.

Policy objecve: Establish a parcipatory framework to maximize the ability of cizens

to inuence development outcomes at all stages of the development cycle.

Policy principle: Planning shall be informed by county development stascal data

and previous evaluaon outcomes and naonal development goals.

Acon Points:

During the planning, communies should have a vision for their county. The1.

community vision should be founded on desirable and achievable social-

economic wellbeing, social jusce and equity, sustainability and gender equity.

Need for2. Strategic Acon Plans (CSAP-County Strategic Acon Plans) that

idenfy both long-term and short-term objecves. The CSAP should be

developed from stascal and factual data and in line with the naonal strategic

plans like the vision 2030.

Technical personnel from relevant government ministries such as nance,3.

water, roads and public works need to be incorporated in the planning stages.

Their role should primarily be to provide guidance on the idened needs and

the requisite nancial and technical resources.

Planning for development priories needs to be devolved to lower levels (wards4.

and villages) to ensure representaon. There should be linkages between the

wards and counes to ensure synergy of plans.


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Cizen parcipaon in implementaon.5.3.2.

Policy objecve: Establish a parcipatory framework to maximize the ability of cizens

to inuence development outcomes at all stages of the development cycle.

Policy Principle: implementaon of county planned projects and acvies shall have

due regard of the CSPA and involve representaves of the cizens at each stage.

Acon plan.

County governments shall delegate implementaon powers and responsibilies1.

to sub-county and ward levels.

The County shall assign an ocer at the ward level known as the Community2.

Development Ocer. This shall be the ocer responsible for ward level

planning, implementaon and monitoring.

The Counes shall provide for the establishment of Cizen Forums at Sub-3.

County and ward level, with clear mandate and power to form commiees for

specic funcons. Sub-commiees shall address the allocaon of funds, audit,

and procurement among others.

The sub-county ward and village level commiees shall be formed based on4.

agreed formula to ensure operaonal eecveness on service delivery.

The delegated commiees should have clear roles, responsibilies and powers5.

to ensure their eecve performance and delivery.

Policy Issue #4. Cizen Parcipaon in Monitoring and Evaluaon5.4.

The accountability component of cizen parcipaon is the weakest in management

of the development cycle of current decentralized structures in the country. It has

been dicult to hold anyone accountable for misuse of funds which lack legal backing

(KHRC and SPAN, 2010). The average Kenyan has in the past not been able to queson

procedures and processes at the local level. The lack of accountability mechanisms has

contributed to corrupon and the polics of patronage. The two are perhaps amongst

the greatest risks to devoluon at the county level.

There should thus be eecve legislaon that compels duty bearers to account to

the cizenry. The execuve also needs to be more proacve in sharing informaon.

However strengthening channels of communicaon alone is not enough. There is need

to put in place mechanisms for engaging communies in doing audits of projects.

Policy objecve: Establish a parcipatory framework to maximize the ability of cizensto inuence development outcomes at all stages of the development cycle.


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Policy Principle 1: Cizens will have the right to obtain juscaon and explanaons

for the use of public resources from those entrusted with the responsibility for their

management.

Policy principle 2: Public oce-holders have a duty to provide juscaon regarding

their performance and take correcve acon in instances where public resources have

not been used eecvely.

Acon Plan

Develop a cizen framework and mechanism for exerng accountability at the1.

local levels through cizen oversight commiees or surveillance commiees.

These commiees may be formed under the Sub-County Cizens forum Ward

Cizens forums and village Forums to compel performance.

Enable cizens to engage in the assessment and reecon of the achievement2.

of the strategic goals as idened in the county Strategic Acon Plan. This will

be coordinated through the Sub-County Cizens Forum and the Ward Cizens

Forum.

The Sub-County Cizens forum will provide for the establishment of cizen3.

oversight or surveillance mechanisms to oversee monitoring and evaluaon on

behalf of the county.

The Ward Cizen Forums shall establish4. cizen monitoring commiees to

oversee all ongoing projects in the ward. The commiees shall generate

quarterly or bi-annual cizen monitoring reports to be tabled at the Ward

Cizen Forum.

Need for ocial recognion of social accountability mechanisms such as social5.

audits, community score cards and cizen report cards and public expenditure

tracking surveys.

Cizen oversight mechanisms should be given statutory powers to enforce6.

accountability from duty bearers.

The Sub-County and Ward Cizen forums and commiees shall have the right7.

to access all informaon held by the county execuve.

County and Sub-County Integrated Monitoring systems (CIMES) will be8.

established under the auspices of NIMES to undertake monitoring. CIMES shall

involve cizen oversight forums in its monitoring processes and reporng.

The county monitoring system will make use of Social audits, Cizen Report9.

Cards and Score Cards in evaluang performance at county level.


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Provide for capacity building of cizens oversight commiees to engage in monitoring

and evaluaon.

Policy Issue #5: Feedback and Reporng5.5.

Cizens require informaon on ongoing basis, so it should always be available at a place

where they can easily access it on a regular basis.

Policy Objecve: Create a culture of accountability both amongst the duty bearers and

those demanding accountability.

Acon Points:

County governments should submit periodic reports to the cizens through1.

the Cizen Forum Commiees. The reports shall be submied in accessible

formats and language.

Need to have clear me frame for county governments to report to cizens on2.

performance.

Need to adopt standard reporng criteria based on county strategic plans and3.

naonal development plans.

Status reports should be comprehensive.4.

Need to build capacity of county personnel on reporng based on measurable5.

indicators that would fall under development outcomes and service delivery.

Need to establish ocial linkages or mechanisms for reporng to the Cizens6.

Forums.

Policy Issue #6: Financing Cizen Parcipaon.5.6.

There is need to sustain cizen parcipaon through adequate nancing

and resource allocaon. The county government therefore shall mobilize

resources and capture an annual work plan that will be an item of nancing

in the county budget.

Policy objecve: To guarantee a sustainable parcipatory program in the

county.

Policy principle: Ensure sustainability of cizen parcipaon

Acon plan:

The county will designate a percentage of its annual allocaon and revenue1.

as a fund for nancing public parcipaon. We recommend a 15% of the

revenue channeled through the central framework of the county planning

and implementaon process.


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Harmonizaon of devolved funds at County level with requisite checks and2.

balances put in place.

Designate a poron of the 15% of funds allocated to counes towards3.

support for cizen parcipaon, report generaon, awareness creaon

and capacity building.

The government should set aside a xed amount from the annual budget to4.

support the naonal service award scheme. This will promote volunteerism

by cizens in county forums and events.

Establish a joint funding mechanism between government, development5.

partners and the private sector to ensure the connuity of cizen

engagement at the local level.

The corporate sector should be encouraged to contribute through promise6.

of tax rebates, recognion and other presgious acknowledgements.


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STRATEGIES FOR PARTICIPATION6.0.

Strategy One: Communicaon6.1.

At the most basic level, public parcipaon is about communicaon between county

ocials/public ocers on one hand and the community on the other. Communicaon

in turn is about the passing of informaon between the governor and the governed. This

is crucial to ensure that those who are outside the formal decision-making structures of

devolved units are able to make any kind of contribuon to local governance. It is for this

reason that the enabling legislaon requires county ocials to inform the community.

Informed by the necessity of reciprocal informaon transmission, this idenes several

tools to enhance the exchange of informaon between the county execuve and county

assemblies on one side and the community members on the other.

A proper communicaon channel enhances the quality of public parcipaon. For this

to be eecve, the following guidelines should be used employed in realising the public

parcipaon principles:

Promote sharing of informaon through use of accessible channels ofi.

communicaon. These should include county websites, transparency boards,SMS, local newsleers, local or community radio, TV, barazas and any other

media.

Provide mely informaon and sucient noce of not less than 1 month forii.

forthcoming planning meengs.

Provide informaon in formats accessible to a wide group of people includingiii.

persons with disabilies and translate to local language where necessary.

Provide for strict me limits for processing of requests for informaon andiv.

refusals to be accompanied by substanve wrien reasons.

A list of reasons for non-disclosure should be provided for in legislaon and inv.

concordance with the Freedom of Informaon legislaon and made public.

Costs of accessing informaon should be reasonable as not to deter potenalvi.

informaon seekers. This should be specied and standardized across all

counes.

Prescribe penales for failure to disclose informaon within spulated mevii.

and in contravenon of the legimate reasons for non-disclosure. Relevantoce may pay a ne as determined by court of law.


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The Tools for Communicaon Include:6.0.1

Publicising public parcipaon principlesi.

Development of a cizens parcipaon charterii.

Community complaints management systemiii.

Publicising Public Parcipaon Principlesi)

Building a culture of parcipatory governance at the county requires developing a new,

inclusive and construcve atude towards local governance. This requires an open

atude on the part of the county administraon acknowledging the responsibilies

of construcve engagement in the interests of all cizens where county ocials/

public ocers understand that democrac local governance is a partnership with

the community and local communies need to understand that governance is oen

constrained and must address the needs of all fairly.

One way of facilitang this is to educate people in the principles of public parcipaon

and the starng point is for county governments to publicise the public parcipaon

principles idened in 3.4 (above). Iniaves to be taken to educate the people in

the values of public parcipaon over and above publicising the public parcipaon

principles.

Cizen Parcipaon Charterii)

The objecve of a cizen parcipaon charter is to outline the rights and dues of

cizens as regard parcipang in county governance. The charter should contain

basic informaon including:

Basic informaon about the county

What community parcipaon is

How community parcipaon works including

Key issues the community must be informed about-

Key issues the community must be consulted about-

Key issues the community must be involved in-

Informaon on how to make general queries and complaints

The public parcipaon year planner

Copies of the charter should be made accessible at ward, sub-county and county levels

as well as at the county website.

The nature of the charter means that it will have to be updated on an annual basis.


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Community Complaints Management Systemiii)

This refers to the establishment of an instuonal home and set of procedures to deal

with community complaints at each level.

The instuonalised system must contain basic requirements namely:

The thorough publicising of contact details, especially a telephone number for

the public to lodge complaints, on the website, in all county oces and key

documents like the cizens parcipaon charter

A place or places in the county where the public can report complaints in

person, and orally if preferred, in their language

The development of standing rules of order that deal in detail with managing

community complaints

These must include clear protocols around who responds to what kind of complaint,

the me frame for this response, the development of techniques to allow the public

to track their complaints, and a basic threshold of informaon that must be given in

response to each kind of complaint.

Cizen Sasfacon Surveys

It is strongly recommended that counes employ the use of sasfacon surveys,

preferable professionally and independently conducted, to assess county performance

in areas such as service provision, and the responsiveness of ocials and sta to the

public.

Strategy Two: Ward Commiees

The constuon places great emphasis on separaon of powers at the naonal and

county level. Arcle 175 (a) requires that county governments shall be based on

democrac principles and the separaon of powers.

The county cizen engagement framework should seek to provide an engagement

plaorm that safeguard against elite capture of cizen forum commiees.

Regulatory tools ought to be put in place to aid cizen engagement and accountability

at ward, sub-county and county levels.

The cizen forum commiees should be representave in nature and inclusive of all

stakeholders comprising women, youth, marginalised and minority groups, private


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sector, faith based organisaons and community based associaons having the best

interests of the communies they represent.

In constung the community forum commiees, the veng should take into

consideraon the integrity and leadership standing of the members.

The Forums will be located at:

County

Sub-County

Urban areas

Ward

Village

Strategy Three: Stakeholder Forums

It is vital for county governments to incorporate local stakeholders into their public

parcipaon pracce. In this respect, it is important that all locally recognised

community organisaons be required to register with the county government and that

they are consulted on how to interact with the county administraon on issues which

concern them or on which they wish to provide input to.

The county department in charge of public parcipaon to establish a stakeholder

register which includes the following informaon:

The name of the stakeholder group

The sector they represent and their perceived role

Their constuon

The nature and extent of their membership

Their target constuency, including which wards they work in

Their oce-bearers and contact details

Their oce details

Eecve public parcipaon requires including as many structures and organisaons

that represent the community as possible, hence the importance of stakeholder forums

for parcipatory governance.

To enhance the capacity of cizen forums, their mandate and powers should be protected

in statute, with operaonal procedures detailed in implementaon guidelines.


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Strategy Four: Village Forums

At the lowest level of engagement, the County Government Act of 2012 proposes the

establishment of the Village commiees. It should be noted that the Act does not

demand of any county to work within the previously registered provincial structures.

It has however given the County Government a clean sheet on creang village

administrave jurisdicons. Such proposals shall be legislated upon at the county

assembly as guided by the County Government Act secon 48 (1)(d).

It is the suggested framework in this tool that the County development plans incorporate

public monitoring and evaluaon as well as project management commiees which will

be elected by the villagers at the village level.


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Proposed parcipaon, monitoring and feedback framework

Figure: 1


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CRECO MEMBERS

No. Organization Email Address Telephone

1Centre for Human Rights & Civic Education

- CHRCE

Ms. Angela Musyoka

[email protected]:0734-15347/0724-

663685

2

Centre for Law & Research International

CLARION

Mr. Morris Odhiambo

[email protected] 0722-610567

3Community Based Development Services

COBADES

Mr. Peter Gitonga

[email protected] 0733 748214

4Citizens Coalition for Constitutional Culture

4Cs

Ms. Grace Wairimu

[email protected] 3874962

6Centre for Democracy & Good Governance

CEDGG

Mr. Cornelius Oduor

[email protected] 051 2210845/0723-839896

7 IlimuSheria (ILISHE) Trust [email protected] 041 - 2491172

8Institute for Civic Education & Development in

Africa ICEDA

Mr. Kenneth Anusu

[email protected] 0733-940969/0721-912401

9 Kenya Human Rights Commission KHRCMs. AtsangoChesoni

[email protected] 020 3874998/3876065

10

Mobilization Agency for Paralegal

Communities in Africa MAPACA

Ms. Joyce Mulu

[email protected] 0735 116164

11Mazingira Institute Mr. Davinder Lamba

[email protected]/[email protected] 020 4443226/4443219

12 Muungano Maendeleo Organization

Mr. David Oketch

[email protected]/

[email protected] - 684258

13

Pastoralists Community Development

Organization PACODEO

Mr. Stephen A. Gorai

[email protected] 069-2102114/0710-140590

14Rights Protection and Promotion Centre

RPP

Ms. ShalmatKassim

[email protected] 020 - 2692071

15 SEMA TrustMr. Christopher Kileta

[email protected] - 763425

16St. Judes Counseling Centre (JCC) Ms. Lena Omondi

[email protected] 760235/0714-599291

17 United Disabled Persons of Kenya (UDPK)Mr. Saitoti Njenga

[email protected] 020 4446065/4443830

18The Youth Agenda

Ms. Susan Mwongera

[email protected]

[email protected]

020 3559212/2022026

19Rural Community Development Agency

RCDA

Ms. Asenath Ny

CRECO County Model Policy Framework for Public Participation

Documents

Transcript of CRECO County Model Policy Framework for Public Participation