Public participation is a key principle envisioned in the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 and the subsequent legislations. There are milestones in the practice of public participation, since devolution, but there is more work to be done in achieving the model of public participation, both at the county and national levels.
From experience, public participation in policymaking, e.g. Budgeting has been conducted as an event and not as a process. Evidence from the Budget Transparency survey by International Budget Partnership Kenya shows that public participation in the information provided in budget documents has been growing though at a very slow pace, from 6% in 2020, 8% in 2021, 10% in 2022 and 15% in CBTS 2023. Public participation in government-invited spaces has not remained without challenges, from mobilization, timely access to information, inclusion, facilitation and feedback. In the quest to create a space for engaging on budget matters, proactively, spaces like “Budget Garage” were created!
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