Access to timely and comprehensive information is critical if the public is to participate in government decision-making, especially the budget-making process. The Constitution of Kenya and the Public Finance Management Act require each of the 47 counties in Kenya to publish and publicize budget documents throughout the budget cycle. These budget documents are supposed to help the public participate in shaping county priorities and monitor the implementation of budgets.

Since January 2015, IBP Kenya has been conducting the County Budget Transparency Survey. In the last five years, the survey focused on the online availability of key budget documents that should be published and publicized according to the PFM Act. In 2020, the survey expanded to evaluate the comprehensiveness of the information provided in the budget documents that counties avail to the public. The 2022 survey was launched in May 2023, and it shows that counties are becoming more transparent even though at a slow pace. Particularly, most counties in the Jumuiya ya Kaunti Za Pwani (JKP) economic block, registered an improvement compared to the previous surveys, in 2020 and 2021, average scoring 52 per cent in 2022.

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