Attaining E-Democracy Through Digital Platforms in Kenya

Abstract

The role of responsible citizens in any country—whether in a city or a village–is to actively participate in the development of their areas. This is a key pre-condition for the attainment of sustainable development, and is deeply entrenched in the sustainable development goals. While the citizens’ right to the city and to actively contribute to a sustainable world cuts across the 17 goals, the provisions of goal 16, to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels” clearly spells out the need for inclusiveness, participation, and access to information at all governance levels; which would promote a sustainable, inclusive and prosperous world (Kimani in Overview of SDGs in Kenya. Paper presented during the County Capacity Forum at Hill Park, Diani on 20 June 2016, [1]). These are central elements of democratic spaces, which are greatly being enhanced by today’s advances in information and communication technologies (ICTs). Kenya has over the recent past made huge strides in the area of promoting e-government services, which has resulted in increased e-democracy alternatives. This has particularly been the case since the creation of the e-government strategy in 2004 (Government of Kenya in e-government strategy 2004. Government Press, Kenya, 2004, [2]), as well as the review of various national laws and policies including a change in the country’s constitution in 2010. These reforms have expanded opportunities for citizens to participate in development processes, including governance. The advances in ICT in the country, which has seen mobile phone penetration rise from less than one percent to 88.1% in just 15 years (2000–2015), and broadband increase from a mere 28 Megabits per second in 2004 to 193.58 Gigabytes per second in 2015 (Export Processing Zones Authority in Kenya’s information and communications technology sector 2005, 2005, [3]; International Telecommunication Union—ITU, 2016, [4]; Communications Authority of Kenya in First quarter sector statistics report for the financial year 2015/2016, 2015, [5]) has further expanded the options for citizen engagement in shaping the country’s smart growth. As a result of these changes, more Kenyans today can easily access information on, and participate in various processes such as national and local budget preparation and plan formulation processes; demand for accountability from the political class on resource utilization; or even submit complaints on poor governance and service delivery through a diversity of platforms. Equally, citizens are able to easily and quickly access services through a few clicks on their phones or computers, services that traditionally took months to acquire through bureaucratic processes. This chapter outlines how Kenya has in the recent past adopted ICT tools and methods in a bid to attain inclusive, transparent, effective and efficient governance. It discusses how the country is utilizing various ICT avenues to promote access to information by the citizens and through which governance structures get feedback on issues. It further illustrates the existing avenues for active citizen engagement in democratic and governance processes and analyzes how effective the adopted ICT systems are in promoting inclusive and smart growth.