Kenya Results Report 2020–2022

Government and civil society reformers made progress implementing the Access to Information Act, open contractingA transparent procurement process, known as open contracting, increases competition, improves public service delivery, and ensures governments better value for their money. Technical specifications: C..., and strengthening access to justiceAccessible justice systems – both formal and informal – ensure that individuals and communities with legal needs know where to go for help, obtain the help they need, and move through a system tha... More. Commitments that had strong government and civil society collaboration saw greater results. Reformers continued to improve the institutionalization of OGP in Kenya amid the COVID-19 pandemic and general electionsImproving transparency in elections and maintaining the independence of electoral commissions is vital for promoting trust in the electoral system, preventing electoral fraud, and upholding the democr.... Looking ahead, the OGP Kenya community is encouraged to improve public information disclosure on open government reforms.

Kenya’s fourth national action plan (NAP IV) had a total of eight commitments. The IRM Action Plan Review identified four promising commitments on open contracting, public participation and legislative openness, access to information, and access to justice.[i] At the end of the action planAction plans are at the core of a government’s participation in OGP. They are the product of a co-creation process in which government and civil society jointly develop commitments to open governmen... cycle, only the access to information commitmentOGP commitments are promises for reform co-created by governments and civil society and submitted as part of an action plan. Commitments typically include a description of the problem, concrete action... was substantially completed. The remaining seven commitments saw limited implementation.

Marginal progress was made in implementing the open contracting, access to information, and access to justiceTo address barriers that prevent citizens from having their justice needs met, OGP participating governments are working to expand transparency, accountability, and inclusion into all systems of justi... commitments. The other promising commitmentThrough the Action Plan Review, OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) recognizes promising commitments that address a policy area that is important to stakeholders or the national context. Pro... on public participationGiving citizens opportunities to provide input into government decision-making leads to more effective governance, improved public service delivery, and more equitable outcomes. Technical specificatio... and legislative openness did not generate any early open government results by the end of the implementation period.

Towards implementing the Access to Information (ATI) Act, the government and civil society drafted ATI implementing regulations. An ATI course at the Kenyan School of Government increased civil servants’ understanding of their obligations under the Act. Additionally, a model ATI law and toolkit facilitated the adoption of ATI legislation at the county level. The Commission on Administrative Justice (CAJ) recorded all access to information requests submitted to public institutions from 2020 to 2021.[ii] However, procedural and administrative barriers, as well as difficulties accessing specific documents, especially those relating to government infrastructure projects, continue to inhibit public access to government-held information.

Under Commitment 2, the rollout of the upgraded Public ProcurementTransparency in the procurement process can help combat corruption and waste that plagues a significant portion of public procurement budgets globally. Technical specifications: Commitments that aim t... Information Portal (PPIP) was an important step to advance open contracting reforms. The modification of PPIP to include all information on tendering opportunities and details of all contracts awarded by procuring entities allows for scrutiny by the public and other relevant government entities. Progress relies on efforts to increase disclosure compliance by procuring entities.

Civil society and the judiciaryWhile a majority of open government reforms occur within the executive branch, OGP members are increasingly taking on commitments to increase the openness of the judicial branch. Technical specificati... made marginal progress towards increasing access to justice. Civil society organization (CSO) Kituo Cha Sheria established the Kituo ICT Center, which enabled more than 300 indigent self-representing clients to access the Milimani Employment and LaborTransparent workforce data and increased representation of workers in labor policy-making lead to policies that better protect workers’ rights and remove barriers for underrepresented groups in the ... Relations Court. Dialogues between citizens and the government on alternative justice systems were held. However, opportunities to establish the Legal AidMore and better information about aid helps partner countries and donor institutions plan and manage aid resources more effectively, parliaments and civil society to hold governments accountable for t... Fund and full implementation of the Alternative Justice Systems Policy remain.

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2022 general elections were the main challenges that limited the levels of completionImplementers must follow through on their commitments for them to achieve impact. For each commitment, OGP’s Independent Reporting Mechanism (IRM) evaluates the degree to which the activities outlin... across various commitment clusters. Other challenges included inadequate human resources, limited financial capacity, political interference, and lack of institutionalization and awareness about OGP across relevant government institutions and departments that play a key role in action plan implementation.

During the implementation cycle, the engagement of relevant OGP stakeholders took place at two levels: (1) at the level of the steering committeeThe Steering Committee is OGP’s executive decision-making body. Its role is to develop, promote and safeguard OGP’s values, principles and interests; establish OGP’s core ideas, policies, and ru..., where civil society and government co-convened follow-up meetings with members to monitor and discuss progress; and (2) at the commitment cluster level where the cluster co-leads organized meetings with their respective members. However, the levels of engagement and participation during implementation differed from one commitment cluster to another. The government did not maintain an online and up to date OGP repositoryAccess to relevant information is essential for enabling participation and ensuring accountability throughout the OGP process. An OGP repository is an online centralized website, webpage, platform or ... with evidence of co-creation and implementation. Therefore, Kenya was found to be acting contrary to OGP process.

[i] “IRM Action Plan Review: Kenya 2020–2022,” Open Government Partnership, 16 August 2022, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/documents/kenya-action-plan-review-2020-2022.

[ii] “CAJ Annual Report 2020–2021,” Commission on Administrative Justice, https://www.ombudsman.go.ke/index.php/resource-center/all-reports/category/4-annual-report.