"As soon as public service ceases to be the main business of the citizens, and they prefer to serve with their pocketbooks rather than with their persons, the State is already close to its ruin.” Such sentiments by Jean Jacques Rousseau are shared by many of such opinions like me.
Apart from the Constitution of Kenya (2010), various legislations such as Public Finance Management ACT, Urban Areas and Cities Act and County Government Act among others demands inclusive and participatory engagement of citizens in matters of planning and budgeting processes both at the counties and National levels.
One of the fundamental objectives why Kenyans vouched for the new constitution is narrated under Article 174, c and d, which give powers of self-governance to the people and enhance their participation in the exercise of the powers of the State and in making decisions affecting them and recognize the rights of communities to manage their own affairs and to further their development.
Today, the month of February, the budget calendar says that all the 47 Counties are supposed to conduct sector hearing on the budget process. I have tried perusing through the newspapers, checking on the county websites, asking my Member of County Assembly to be informed on when my county will be inviting her citizens if not myself for sectoral hearings.
For the past few years, counties have been struggling with meeting the strict deadlines hence such notifications are usually short and they are advertised at the back page of the national newspapers in a small section with an intention of them not catching the eye of the public.
Conversely, I will not fault the counties who provide ‘adequate’ notice to the public. I have come across public participation notices which give four days to one week’s notice.
However the question that lingers in the minds of majority if not the law makers is that, what period do we consider as adequate? The answer to this question was somewhat given by Judge Odunga in his landmark ruling on petition which revoked the Kiambu County Finance Act (2013). And in his ruling he sighted that,
“For the opportunity afforded to the public to participate in a legislative process to comply with section various sections of the constitution, the invitation must give those wishing to participate sufficient time to prepare. Members of the public cannot participate meaningfully if they are given inadequate time to study the Bill,
consider their stance and formulate representations to be made. Two principles may be deduced from the above statement. The first is that the interested parties must be given adequate time to prepare for a hearing.
The second relates to the time or stage when the hearing is permitted, which must be before the final decision is taken. These principles ensure that meaningful participation is allowed.
It must be an opportunity capable of influencing the decision to be taken. The question whether the notice given in a particular case complies with these principles will depend on the facts of that case.”
Last year, I attended budget hearings in one of the sub-counties in Kisumu County. The few citizens who were less than 50 by counting convened as early as 9:00 am as per the notice. Four hours went by and no county officer was present to lead the public through sector hearings.
At 1:00 PM, at least 12 county vehicles started streaming in to lead the sector hearings. Guess What? The distribution of over 200 paged budget documents began in earnest with an expectation that the citizens present will read the document and give their input before the function ends. Surely..! For how long will public participation be conducted like this, without any policy framework?
And as far as many citizens are psyched and demands participation in county planning and allocation of resources, a number of questions are nagging in my mind; What is Sector hearings? that aside; What is citizens participation? What is the threshold of this participation? When and how are citizens supposed to participate in planning and budget processes? Whose duty is it to ensure citizens are engaged in the governance of their counties? These are policy issues that not only the counties are struggling with but also both the two legislative bodies (Senate and National Assembly) are confused in its implementation.
Effective public participation requires empowered communities. According to County Government Act Section 99 (1) stresses that purpose of civic education is to have an informed citizenry that actively participates in governance affairs of the society on the basis of enhanced knowledge, understanding and ownership of the Constitution.
This means therefore that County governments should allocate budget for civic education and implement actual civic education programmes. A number of Counties such as Makueni have gone further and developed curriculum for civic education whiles many are still struggling with development of framework for public participation.
Capacity and prioritization of building of stronger institutions and policies for public participation at the county level is posing a great challenge to many counties. Many lack proper guidance and capacity for legislative drafting and policy development, this result into enactment of inconsistent and incongruent laws that are not informed by policy framework.
Not knowing that the best practice in most instances is that a police framework informs legislative development. A lot more resources need to be channeled to systems strengthening to build stronger institutions which allow proper and better channels for public participation. This will result into informed and empowered citizenry contributing to accountable, transparent and proper utilization of devolved funds at the counties
The writer is
Denis Kongere
Assistant Programme Manager Governance and Advocacy at
Concern Worldwide, Nyanza.
Denis.kongere@concern.net