Public Officers Who Skip Public Participation Face Sh500,000 Fine Under New Bill
Public Servants who ignore getting Kenyans’ input on laws and projects could find themselves facing fines of up to 500,000 Shillings if a proposed Public Participation Bill is passed in 2025 – it was tabled in Parliament on Thursday.
This Bill is all about setting some basic rules for how the government lets the public know about upcoming projects and decisions, makes information accessible to everyone, and then actually takes notice of the feedback they get. Its also looking to set up an office to oversee all that and make sure the governments at both the national and county level are working together on this.
The Bill puts the onus on specific people to make sure public participation happens – think clerks of parliament, the head of the Judiciary, and the Attorney General at the national level – and at county level its the governors and their clerks who would be keeping an eye on things.
According to the Bill, public bodies have to give people some kind of heads up before they ask for input and they have to leave enough time for people to have their say – proper notice and all that.
The Bill was put forward by Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo and Ainabkoi MP Samuel Chepkonga – basically it’s an attempt to sort out the duplication of hearing stuff that always seems to happen between the National Assembly and the Senate – and its suggested that one Houses report could just get picked up by the other and hey presto no more repeated sessions with the same witnesses.
Lawmakers reckon this will save some public funds and reduce the frustration levels among citizens and public officials alike.
We’ve all heard about how the courts have been shutting down government proposals over lack of proper consultation in the past – like the appointment of Chief Admin Secretaries and proposed ID replacement fees.
The Supreme court keeps saying that they need a proper law about public participation – not just some formalities but actually making sure the public are engaged.
Apparently there are over 2,000 court cases out of this – which just puts a load more work on the Judiciary and ends up costing millions in public money if we’re to be honest.
If this Bill gets passed, it will set in place a national framework for getting citizens involved in policy making, so everyone’s on the same page and it can actually be enforced.
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Public Officers Who Skip Public Participation Face Sh500,000 Fine Under New Bill