Ecumenical Centre for Justice and Peace (ECJP) in partnership with the Kisumu County government have launched a free bulk Short Message Service (SMS) platform.
The Sh 3M platform will create dialogue between the residents of Kisumu and the county government for the next three years.
Speaking during the event, ECJP Executive Director Rev Jephtha Gathaka said the free SMS platform will act as link between the county government and the citizens of Kisumu to participate in the running the affairs of the county.
"This SMS platform will be implemented by registration, where a member of the public will register with their names to 21142 and they will receive an SMS notifying them that they have been successfully registered," said Rev Gathaka.
He added, "They can now proceed to send their issues, comments or questions to the office of the governor and they will be answered directly to their numbers."
Gathaka said that the SMS platform will allow any language such as Kiswahili, English and even Dholuo.
"The platform will benefit the residents of Kisumu because they will carry out real time social audit and engage in civilian oversight over the public funded projects, public service delivery which are key areas of citizen participation," said Gathaka.
Rev Gathaka said that the benefits will include improved service delivery, reduced corruption and mal adminstration and reduced violations of human right.
He said the ECJP`s main contribution was to take care of all the SMS. "When you hear they are free it means somebody has paid for them.
We are also taking care of the training of the people to know what kind of questions to ask especially in five areas service delivery,good governance, respect for human rights, protection of human rights and reduced mal administration," said Rev Gathaka.