KENYAN’S TO INVEST IN ACCOUNTABILITY AND GOVERNANCE.

Feb 10, 2015 Editor Kisumu News National, News, Regional 0

By Erick Ochola

Establishing accountability measures in governance is a worthy investment in the Kenyan public sector if our Vision 2030 dreams are to be realized.

In a sector that has been widely publicized for all the wrong reasons, not to mention, ghost projects, administrative injustices, ineptitude, delays and the general poor work ethics, a change of attitude is inevitable.

For instance, if you appeared a minute after 5.00pm in some public institutions, you would think that there was a fire outbreak in the building judging by how fast the employees flee.

It is only fair for public officers to remain committed to the service of nation nonetheless, the Constitution of Kenya 2010 provides for fundamental freedoms that allow for active citizenship made possible by rights of access to information.

The long awaited passing of the Access to Information Bill 2013 by the National parliament will only make things better but more importantly is the Constitutional establishment of oversight bodies such as the Commission on Administrative Justice (Office of the Ombudsman) and the Office of the Auditor General among other institutions must work full time to make it easy for the public to access these information in public offices to enhance accountability.

As much as more still needs to be done to enhance good governance integrity and accountability the office of the Ombudsman has done good progress especially in the area of public service delivery. For instance, you now do not need to know someone or offer a bribe at a public office for you to be served; you only need to report to the relevant oversight institution.

The Commission has moved with speed to derail lords of impunity into which have been derailing acts of justice across the public office

With the countless number of successfully resolved complaints, it’s only a matter of time before cases of administrative injustices vanish in the breadth of Kenyans.

Notably, such efforts have been reinforced by actions of the Civil Society groups that constantly demand for accountability from both the County and National governments.

A recent launch of a Community Integrity Building Approach (CIB) and Development Check Mobile Application by the National Tax Payers Association (NTA) only provides hope that the challenge of aid and government funds for development projects constantly being lost due to fraud, corruption and mismanagement will soon be a thing of the past.

The application enables citizens to give feedback on the transparency and effectiveness of development projects.

However, for all these initiatives to work, citizens must participate in governance matters to enhance development effective service delivery and prudent utilization of public resources.

The writer is a Communications & Advocacy Officer in the office of Commission on Administrative Justice Office of the Ombudsman