EFFECTS OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION ON LEGISLATION BY THE KENYA NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
Victor Weke Imbo - Master of Public Policy and Administration, Kenyatta University, Kenya
Dr. Felix Kiruthu - Department of Public Policy and Administration, Kenyatta University, Kenya
ABSTRACT
Public participation in policy making has become entrenched in democratic principles of governance in Kenya. Policy formulation is very critical in legislation because it is the point at which various causes of action are prescribed towards certain challenges. This has hitherto been a preserve of the governing elite with the role of non-state actors now gaining prominence. Kenya enacted a constitution in 2010 of which public participation stands out, with all government activities required to conform to this principle. Eight years later and it is still not yet clear if progress has been made to entrench this letter and spirit of the law in our national culture, specifically in policy formulation through national legislation. This problem is manifest in the fact that certain legislations have been declared unconstitutional by courts, on the basis of lack of or ineffectual public participation. The research while seeking to address this problem by examining effects of public participation on legislation passed by the Kenya National Assembly, sought to establish conditions precedent to effective participation. The first objective of this study was to ascertain the level of public awareness. Further, the study sought to interrogate the process institutionalized by the National Assembly to actualize constitutional requirements relevant to public participation, and went further to establish the extent to which outcomes of legislation and policy are influenced by the design of this participation. The study conducted in the cosmopolitan Nairobi City County used descriptive research design and a random sample of 204 members of the public, a number settled upon using Slovin’s formula (at 93% confidence level), from a target population of approximately 4 million residents as per the latest county statistical abstract by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, as well as the 349 Members of the National Assembly, on their awareness and participation levels. Interviews of key resource persons in the legislative process were also conducted, including the Members and staff of the National Assembly and civil society organizations that had participated before. These key personnel were identified purposively as they were adjudged to be in the heart of the legislative process in Kenya. Theories of participative and deliberative democracy that offers citizens real democratic power over the state and the neo-liberal market-oriented approach that entrenches participation are the theoretical basis of the research. Content analysis was used to analyze open ended questions and secondary data, while measures of central tendency were used to analyze responses from closed questions. The study found that public participation has had little effect on outcome of legislation by the National Assembly. This was because there was low awareness by the public, compounded by faulty process and design of the participation process by the National Assembly. The research recommends that the public should be intensely sensitized; the National Assembly should use media with wider coverage, strengthened constituency offices and provision of adequate time to Committees to process Bills.
