Civil society groups and residents from Kibera on Monday attended a community sensitisation forum on Nairobi County Public Participation Bill 2015.
The forum held at Muungano Community hall in Kibera was spearheaded by Hakijamii Trust with the main agenda being discussions on the need to institutionalise public participation and ensure communities are fully involved.
"Today is basically a day to dig deep into the proposed County public participation Bill that seeks to lay structures for public participation in line with other laws in Nairobi County,” said Samuel Olando, the program assistant at Hakijamii Trust.
“There is need for the public to fully take part in the agenda of the county especially when it comes to budgeting. They should give their proposals on what they feel appropriate to be included in the county budget. This is a bill that if well implemented will change a lot of things positively," he said.
Olando has urged the Nairobi County government to improve the means of communication to ensure information is reaching as many people as possible.
"It is disappointing that the county government is not involving the public appropriately in such kind of forums. They should not work in a kind of secrecy because unless the public gets the information well, it can be difficult to get them participating fully,” added Olando.
Daniel Orogo, the chairman of Langata Youth Network who was also in attendance gave assurance to the public that the recommendations agreed upon during the forum shall be presented to the committee involved with the proposed bill.
“All the proposals and recommendations on public participation shall immediately be submitted to the committee that might sit later this week. The copy of the same shall also be forwarded to the mover of the Bill,” said Orogo.