Ombudsman seeks county-specific Access to Information Acts for transparency

Chris Mahandara-KNA

The Commission on Administrative Justice (Ombudsman) is working with county governments to develop Access to Information Acts that are unique to each of the 47 devolved units.

Commission Chairman Charles Orinda said the lack of Access to Information Acts at the county level continues to hinder Kenyans from seeking information on critical issues, pointing out the need for county assemblies to address the gap.

Orinda said the commission is engaging county governments to offer technical support and build their capacity to develop the laws based on local circumstances to ensure that Kenyans have access to information on the various programs run by the devolved units.

"At the national level, we have the Access to Information Act but now we want the counties to adopt what we call specific access to information acts taking into consideration the local circumstances," he said.

This, he said, will empower citizens to make enquiries and put the county government to task on availing information on various issues as required by the law.

"Not everybody can come to our offices in Nairobi to report that they requested certain information from a county government, and they have not been given.

That is why we want to have these laws in place so that our people can have access to the information they require," he said.

Speaking at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) in Kisumu during a spot check of the Social Health Authority (SHA), Orinda said county governments were implementing projects worth billions of shillings, adding that access to information on the projects and programs is critical.

"We have big climate resilience projects being rolled out by the county governments through Financing Locally Led Climate Action (FLOCA) which the people must be informed so that they are actively engaged in building climate change resilience," he said.

The team visited Siaya Referral Hospital, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) and several private and faith-based health facilities to check on how SHA is working.

The chairman said othNakuru,ms were conducting a similar exercise in Nyandarua, Murang'a, Isiolo and Nakuru after which they shall retreat to write a report on the findings.

"We are looking at the bottlenecks and issues affecting the smooth running of the scheme. After this exercise we shall issue a comprehensive statement," he said.