PROMOTING SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY

Meaningful citizen engagement

Our Social Accountability Program seeks to support active and meaningful citizen engagement by enhancing the effectiveness of transparency, accountability, and participation in governance processes.

Kenyan’s gave themselves powers of self-governance under Kenya’s devolved system of Governance in the 2010 Constitution to enhance their participation in the decision-making processes that affect them. Leadership being a form of social contract between the state and society, requires social accountability to strengthen this relationship through the promotion of civic engagement.

Social Accountability mechanisms create effective mechanisms of accountability, while strengthening the existing horizontal accountability mechanisms which contribute to improved public service delivery, better governance, and greater development effectiveness.

Join the movement

Our Social Accountability Program seeks to support active and meaningful citizen engagement by enhancing the effectiveness of transparency, accountability, and participation in governance processes.

CITIZEN ENGAGEMENT

Through this programme, we are promoting public awareness, civic mobilization, and opportunities for public discourse on the issue of public debt and its consequences to the livelihoods of citizens.

We aim to have visible public processes which will encourage discussions on accountability, the responsibility of political leaders in regards to public debt management and to create avenues for the public to hold the government accountable on these issues.

The stock of Public Debt for Kenya stood at 69% of Nominal GDP as at the end of December 2020. Out of this, external debt accounted for 51.2% of the total public debt. This external debt must be paid back in the currency in which it is borrowed, and this poses an issue because the foreign currencies are majorly earned through exports, remittances, and foreign direct investment, which Kenya is unable to acquire in adequate amounts because of its decline in market share.

The government has also increased its uptake of debt on commercial terms over the last 8 years leading up to 2020. In addition, there has been limited transparency in decision-making and accountability as to the proceeds of these expensive debts which is contrary to the constitutional principles of public finance.

As a result, Kenya is at high risk of debt distress with debt transparency in the debt procurement and management being a major concern. Despite Kenya being in a debt distress and the economy strained due to the debt unsustainability, the government continues to borrow more than the economy can sustainably repay. This has had dire consequences on the economic livelihood of citizens and indeed future generations.

TISA under the Okoa Uchumi debt campaign seeks to work with stakeholders to redress Kenya’s public debt crisis by pushing for political accountability and bolstering constitutional safeguards in public debt management to push for debt sustainability through a balanced and equitable budget. The political accountability can only be achieved through citizen engagement in prudent and accountable public debt management processes.

The purpose of the citizen engagement process is to enhance public awareness, civic mobilization, and public discourse on the issue of public debt and its consequences for the citizen.

The citizen engagement process aims to:

Educate the public on the issue of public debt and its consequences to the citizen.
Build the capacity of community leaders and media personnel on the issue of public debt with the intention being that they can then educate their fellow citizens on the issue of the public debt crisis in Kenya
Build the capacity of citizens to engage on a knowledgeable front with their respective leaders on these issues as a way of demanding accountability in public finance governance and management.
Have a visible public process which will discuss accountability stemming from a discourse on the responsibility of the leaders responsible and any avenues available to the public to redress the matter. The intention of the citizen engagement process will be that at the end of it, there will be demands from the citizens to their leaders on the issue.
Act as a political mobilization of citizens and other stakeholders around public debt issues.
Have a process of engagement with all levels of stakeholders, citizens, community leaders, media, religious leaders, students and academia, civil society, the legislature, and the executive.

Desired Impact

Overall, the desired impact of the citizen engagement process will be that citizens all over Kenya are well informed and kept abreast of the issues surrounding public debt that affect their livelihoods. Furthermore, the desired outcome is that the citizens will build their capacity to hold their leaders accountable, having had sufficient understanding of the issues. At the end, it is envisioned that the citizens will have a document that outlines the key issues and their demands and that this document will reach the tables of the leaders responsible. This process will leverage on the upcoming general elections and the campaigns done, with the aim of making sure the prospective leaders take this issue into account and make commitments to the public for redress.

We call for citizen participation and engagement in prudent and accountable public debt management through:

Petitions for government accountability on public debt management
Public participation in budget processes
Participation in electoral processes
Mobilization and sensitization of fellow citizens on status of public debt and its effects on their livelihoods
Participation in public discourse on public debt management