County governments should ensure they espouse open governance through easy access to information by the public and the media to aid in making informed decisions.
Lucy Ndung’u, a Commissioner at the Office of the Ombudsman, said access to crucial information by the public and the media eases the way of doing business for governments as wananchi are able to understand and participate in what goes on.
She said on Wednesday during the international day for universal access to information that public access to imperative government information also builds trust and helps put leaders in check.
Ms Ndung’u said that the Ombudsman office tackles maladministration in the public sector.
In addition, the commission is empowered to, among other things, investigate complaints of delay, abuse of power, unfair treatment and manifest injustice.
Ndung’u added that the commission builds capacity of the public offices on complaints handling and good governance, and provides technical support to public institutions to establish complaints handling infrastructure.
She asked members of the public to report to the office of the Ombudsman any case of civil servants coercing clients to pay for information shared. “My office is mandated to receive complaints from all public offices in relation to access to information,” she said.
Ndung’u called on journalists to be vigilant while doing their investigative journalism noting that the commission together with other constitutional commissions serves to protect the sovereignty of the people by ensuring all state organs observe the principles of democracy, constitutional values and respect the supremacy of the constitution.
Bungoma County Secretary Wakoli Wambati said that the County government is working towards digitizing all county programs to ensure that people don’t travel from constituencies to get information at county headquarters.
Wakoli said that a vibrant and updated website has also been set up that ensures that the public is accessing all relevant information. He added that as the County Secretary he will ensure that Journalists are accessing information to improve the quality of governance in the county.
