President Kenyatta has warned leaders about engaging in early campaigns.
“This is not the time to be talking about the 2022 general election. Ordinary Kenyans don’t care about that,” Uhuru said on Friday.
Speaking during the 7th annual Conference of Constitutional Commissions and Independent Offices at Meru National Polytechnic, President Kenyatta said Kenyans are interested in what the government is doing today.
“Kenyans want to know what the government is doing for them. They want to know about housing, electricity, roads and other development projects. Kenyans are not interested in daily politics,” President Kenyatta said.
“Kenyans want to know what we are doing for them today, tomorrow, next week and next month to ensure they can put a plate of food on the table,” he said.
He said his development agenda was a product of public participation which he said should not be a mere exercise meant to record compliance with the law.
The president directed the Attorney General to incorporate the views collected during the constitutional commissions and independent offices conference are incorporated in the public participation bill which is set to be approved by the cabinet.
The Teachers Service Commission chairperson who is also the forum chairperson Dr Lydia Nzomo said the three day conference was meant to look into better ways of engaging the public in government programmes and legislation.
“Frequently, those who mobilise for public participation use approaches which may not give the desired impact, many times just for the purpose of ticking the box to show it happened. Kenyans need to know they have a constitutional right to participate in governance and other administrative issues,” Dr Nzomo said.
I urge leaders to not just talk but work for #Kenyans. Go back to the grassroots and work for Kenyans who elected you #MeruTown pic.twitter.com/O0mefQertl
— Uhuru Kenyatta (@UKenyatta) October 12, 2018
The TSC chair noted the need for all government institutions to actively engage Kenyans and avoid pushing ‘programmes down their throat’.
“We admit that enough public participation has not been done by various government bodies. The conference is meant to evaluate the challenges and seek best practices for public engagement. Going forward, there is need to correct past mistakes,” she said.
Dr Nzomo said public participation is a vital tenet of the constitution which is meant to give Kenyans a sense of belonging and trust in government projects.
She said engaging the public would help increase credibility between public officers and communities besides promoting transparency.