Bill calls for hiring of Registrar of Public Participation

Climate and Community Development Advocate Anita Soina during the public participation in the transfer of Amboseli National Park to County Government of Kajiado at KICC, Nairobi on July 10, 2024. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]

The Attorney General is now seeking legislation on who manages and how public participation is conducted in the country.

A Bill to create the office of Registrar of Public Participation is in the pipeline.

The Public Participation Bill 2024 has proposed guidelines that need to be met when public participation is being carried out on Bills and other government regulations, just a fortnight after the ouster of former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua that was characterised by grumbles over the procedure of involving the public.

“There is established the office of the Registrar of Public Participation which shall be an office in the public service. The Registrar shall be competitively recruited and appointed by the Cabinet Secretary,” reads the Bill in part.

Proposed functions of the Registrar are to receive and approve public participation plans of responsible authorities, maintain a register of public participation plans and public participation reports, develop and implement a public participation monitoring, evaluation, assessment and learning framework and submit to the Cabinet Secretary reports on the status of public participation.

The office holder will also be required to maintain a website of public participation reports, recommend to responsible authorities’ measures to be taken to ensure compliance with this Act, conduct capacity building for responsible authorities and perform such other functions as may be provided for under the Act or any other written legislation.

“The Public Service Commission, in consultation with the Cabinet Secretary, shall deploy such public officers or other staff as may be necessary for the proper discharge of functions of the Registrar on such terms of service as the Public Service Commission may, in consultation with the Salaries and Remuneration Commission, determine,” it reads.

Both Houses of Parliament will also be required to facilitate public participation and involvement in the legislative and other business of Parliament and its committees, as proposed by the Bill.

“Where a committee of a House of Parliament has conducted public participation on a Bill, a committee of the second House of Parliament may rely on the report tabled by the committee of the originating House,” states the Bill. “The committee of a House may seek additional views on the Bill with respect to substantive amendments made to the Bill during its consideration.”

Under the proposed guidelines on how public participation should be conducted, if the Bill is approved into law, the accounting officer of any authority proposing a public participation exercise, shall submit a public participation plan to the Registrar.

Further, if the public participation exercise is on a legislative proposal, the accounting officer’s plan shall include a copy of the proposal, a summary of the information contained in the proposal, a stakeholder analysis of the persons likely to be interested or affected by the proposal, proof of funds for the public participation exercise and a notice of the public participation exercise.

 “The accounting officer of the responsible authority shall ensure that each proposal and summary of information submitted under Section 9 are publicly available in a format that can be easily accessed and should publicise the notice in a newspaper with nationwide circulation, on the responsible authority’s website, and in any other medium,” states the Bill.