The County Government of Kakamega is finalizing plans to launch a call center that will enable residents to seek information and receive real-time feedback.
The administration has identified a toll-free number that will be used once the call center is operational.
The county government is also partnering with Childline Kenya, an organization that operates the toll-free number 116, which allows children to report abuse and access support services.
The Kakamega County Director of Public Participation and Civic Education Juma Omwendo noted that the initiatives are part of the county government’s commitment to enhance transparency and enhance service delivery.
In addition to the call center, the county government is also setting up a public participation portal to ensure that the majority of residents are able to engage during public participation forums.
“The portal is being designed in a way that it is disability friendly and easily accessible for use by anyone. During public participation forums, residents will use it to make contributions, ask questions, seek clarifications and even submit memorandums and petitions,” the director noted.
He was speaking during a workshop on the dissemination of the County’s public participation policy 2025 and the Open Government Partnership(OGP) commitment in Kakamega, an event organized by Uraia Trust.
The director noted that the county government joined OGP with a commitment to ensure citizen involvement in policy making, enhance budget openness, implement strategies to address climate change, access to information and enhance transparency within the county assembly operations.
“As a county we are committed to ensure that the public gets involved in our county programs, projects and policies,” he noted.
The Network for Research and Governance (NRG) Director, Paul Odongo, said that Kakamega county is setting a good example in governance in the Lake Region Economic Bloc by coming up with the public participation policy, call center, open budget and open assembly.
“Once we have open governance, it means there is transparency and accountability leading to improved service delivery,” he added.
He noted that OGP will streamline the working relationship between the County Government, Civil Society Organizations and Citizens by enhancing advocacy, embracing dialogue and allowing consensus in governance and decision making.
“This is one opportunity that has brought us together so that we as CSO will not clash with the county government,” he noted.
The chairperson of Kakamega Civil Society Network Edward Wambani said that the CSOs are ready to support the county government of Kakamega in providing services to the citizenry.
“We are hoping that with these initiatives, the county government of Kakamega is going to improve on feedback mechanisms, especially when we have memos and petitions being written to the executive. It has been taking too long, so we hope with the introduction of the digital platform and the call center, we will be able to get feedback on time,” he added.
By Moses Wekesa
