RIGHT TO INFORMATION AND PARLIAMENTARY ACCESIBILITY, ACCOUNTABILITY AND TRANSPARENCY THET KENYAN PARLIAMENT CASE RIGHT TO INFORMATION AND PARLIAMENTARY ACCESSIBILITY, ACCOUNTABILITY & TRANSPARENCY An Analysis of Access to Information, Accountability and Participation in the Kenyan Parliament By Henry Maina & Hillary Onami – Article 19 Eastern Africa Final Technical Report 2011 *IDRC Project No: 106493 * Eastern and Southern Africa Region In collaboration with Article 19 Eastern Africa ACS Plaza2nd Floor, Lenana Road P. O. Box 2653-00100 Nairobi T. +254 20 3862230-2, F. +254 20 3862231 DEFENDING FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND INFORMATION 2 | Right & Access to Information TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface and Acknowledgements..........................................................................................................................4 Abbreviation and Acronyms................................................................................................................................5 Executive Summary............................................................................................................................................5 1.0 Introduction & Background ................................................................................................................7 1.0 Research Problem……..………………………………………………………………………………11 1.1 Objectives…………...........…………………………………..........................................................12 1.2 Scope of the Study.....................................................................................................................12 1.3 Research Questions……............………………………………………………...……………………12 1.4 Research Methodology...............................................................................................................13 1.5 Research Tools………………………..........……………………………………………………………16 2.0 Research Findings………………………………………………..………………………………….....……..17 2.1 Action Research: Responsiveness to information Requests……..……...................………………17 2.2 Accessibility of Members of Parliament………………………….……………….......................…..18 2.3 Accessibility of parliament & Parliamentary Processes…………………...................……………..22 3.0 Access and Right to Information Best practices...........................................................................…...24 3.1 Principles of Access…………………………………………...........……………………………...…24 3.2 Indicators of an Accessible MP.………………………………..............……………………..….…..25 4.0 Conclusion........................................................................................................................................29 5.0 Recommendations.............................................................................................................................30 6.0 APPENDIX…………………………………………………………………………………………………...32 ANNEXURE I Questionnaire to the constituents................................................................................................32 ANNEXURE 2 Questions to Key Respondents in Parliament………………………………….............…………....34 ANNEXURE 3: List of Constituencies and Counties in Kenya……………………………………….............…...…39 KENYAN PARLIAMENT ACCESSIBILITY | ACCOUNTABILITY | TRANSPARENCY 3 PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This report presents the research, findings and recommendations ARTICLE 19 gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the resulting from ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa pioneer project; Right International Development Research Centre (IDRC) without which to Information and Parliamentary Accessibility, Accountability and the research would not have been actualized. We, in equal measure Transparency. The project was supported by the International De- extend deep gratitude to the office of the Speaker of the National As- velopment Research Centre (IDRC). The research was conducted sembly of Kenya, the Office of the Clerk and the National Assembly in 2011 and part of 2012. This was informed by the fact that open- Director of Information and Research for the go-ahead to conduct ness, access to information and genuine dialogue and participation the research, their support in dispensing information and validation of citizens in the management of the affairs of the state are the heart of the report. of Kenya’s new constitutional dispensation. ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa also appreciates the support and the After initial consultations with the Speaker and the Clerk of the contributions accorded to the research by the honourable members National assembly, ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa sought to find out of Kenya’s parliament whose constituencies were sampled in the re- the legislators accessibility to their constituents as well as the con- search. We also appreciate Honorable (Eng.) James Rege’s support stituents’ access to parliamentary proceedings with the goal of i) in his capacity as the Energy, Communications and Information and strengthening citizens’ access to information on parliament and ii) House Broadcasting Committee chairperson. as a way of leveraging their greater participation in setting parlia- mentary agenda and ensuring its accountability. We note and greatly appreciate IDRC and ARTICLE 19 staff for their significant contributions of time, talent and ideas in the conduct and ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa and IDRC sought to assess the extent successful completion of the project; the information requestors and of accessibility and responsiveness of the legislators as well as that research assistants from all the 32 sampled constituencies across of the institution of parliament with the objective of enhancing the the country; the constituents who gave feedback to the research and quality of service offered, accountability and transparency in institu- all who in one way or another contributed to the research and the tions of governance and democracy. writing of the report: we deeply appreciate. The findings and recommendations of this report address data, information gaps and needs, and provide valuable information for Thank you all guiding the next steps in ensuring participatory policy making and enhancing accessibility and delivery of information. As a matter of HENRY O. MAINA urgency, parliament should enact Access to Information (ATI) law DIRECTOR that is progressive and that embrace a proactive disclosure policy to ARTICLE 19 KENYA/EASTERN AFRICA ensure free flow of information. 4 | Right & Access to Information ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY RTICLE 19 Eastern Africa through the support of International A19 ARTICLE 19 A Development research Centre (IDRC)- Eastern and Southern Regional office undertook the ‘Right to Information and Parliamen- ACHPR African Commission on Human and People’s tary accessibility, accountability and transparency project’ in Kenya Rights with an aim of strengthening Citizens access to information on par- liament as a leverage to their greater participation in setting parlia- CPA Commonwealth Parliamentary Association mentary agenda and ensure its accountability. ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political The research focused on parliament as a major governance institu- Rights tion through which people’s voices ought to be heard. It targeted 32 sampled constituencies (representing 15 per cent of all the current IDRC International Development Research Centre constituencies) in Kenya from which requestors were picked, trained on Access provisions and mandated to engage with parliament and IPPG Inter-Parties Parliamentary Group its proceedings while testing their respective parliamentarians on access standards. IPU Inter-Parliamentary Union The study was grounded on the common fact that openness and MPs Members of Parliament sharing of critical information allows citizens to participate in mat- ters affecting their lives and enhances better governance and trans- RTI Right to Information parency. It aims to build a body of knowledge on the challenges, successes and pathways that citizens employ in engaging with UDHR Universal Declaration on Human Rights parliament. It seeks to enhance access to information and genuine citizen participation both as a measure of consolidating participa- UN United Nation tory democracy and enhancing citizen’s ability to hold institutions of governance accountable and transparent. Therefore, this study makes recommendations on how parliament and members of parliament can continue to make critical informa- tion available to the people and why such proactive information sharing will endear the institution’s credibility amongst the elector- ates. The key findings from the research can be categorized and summarized as below: ACCESSIBILITY The research sought to gauge the accessibility of the individual Member of Parliament and parliament as an institution to the ordi- nary citizen. We found out that: 1. MP’s whose constituents had contacts tended to be more ac- cessible (a) While almost all (94.4 per cent) constituents knew their leg- KENYAN PARLIAMENT ACCESSIBILITY | ACCOUNTABILITY | TRANSPARENCY 5 islators, only 36.8 per cent had their MP’s contacts and 35.5 TRANSPARENCY per cent knew how their area MP could be contacted. About 63 percent neither had their MPs contacts nor knew how he The study found out that Parliamentary budget, processes and or she could be contacted. procedures are ambiguous to a majority of Kenyans hence not as transparent. On the side of MPs, their personal details and mani- (b) About 26 percent interacted with their MP officially while festos for their constituencies remain hidden or ambiguous election 37 percent interacted