What does it take to change a country into a better place?

19th October, 2023

By Abraham Rugo Muriu

Change for good is perhaps the most talked about topic in public sector management. We desire that there is a better prioritization of public funds to reflect the real needs of the people, that government spends efficiently and in a transparent and accountable way. We want the best of public services for ourselves with the least levels of taxation and borrowing possible. We desire that our government delivers as per our desires and a little more. But that is not always what we get. Often, we experience many unmet expectations.

?The question remains the same, what does it take to change a country into a better place? Is it the workers in government or in private sector or in media and civil society? Is it the policies and laws that the legislature puts in place under the constitution, or the international conventions and conditions that are imposed on a government?

Perhaps when all fails, is it a strong opposition in parliament that saves the day or perhaps a few remnant officials who do that which is right. Or is it strong communities of citizens who through social accountability demand for public services to be effectively delivered while honoring their end of paying taxes? This seems like the most sustainable way to hold the government to account. The realization of an active citizenry has not been easy to establish through the years, thus seeking for deliberate interventions by both the government and civil society organizations.

?Working through budget analysis and advocacy has meant that for most the last 15 years, I have been part of teams that review in fair detail, the annual budgets of the national and county governments. This process entails accessing the publicly available documents, analyzing the financial and non-financial details in line with approved plans and submitting the findings to relevant executive or legislative departments.

?Doing that with a team of experts in the space has been great but limited. While we have witnessed great improvements in availability of information and even quality of analysis, we still have not moved the needle on accountability. Thus, in the last 4 years, in my role as the lead of Bajeti Hub , we have sought for more voices from across the country to undertake budget analysis and submit their findings to the respective offices. The growing collective of voices not only undertakes technical rigor but also provides the political legitimacy of the asks being made. This has been in appreciation that budgets are both technical as they are political.

Once the memorandums are submitted to the respective offices, a key working assumption is that they take time to consider the input and after that make decisions on how to incorporate the feedback on the decisions being made. In reality, feedback giving has been perhaps the weakest point in the process of participatory governance.

Bottom line, it does appear that staying in power over the long-haul is the que to how change happens. Consistent collaborations between government and citizens makes a difference. That collaboration means that government players can engage citizens in all matters of decision making and take seriously the input of the citizens.

?On the other hand, collaboration entails that citizens are committed to not only pointing out what is wrong but also providing solutions. We see this in all the progress that has been made by social accountability work through social audits and budget advocacy. ?Our learning points for advocacy have come from witnessing communities push for operationalization of services in healthcare, water and education.

“?For instance, in Baringo and Busia where some of our partners work, change has meant having the confidence to hold governments accountable and demanding for better services on account of strengthened capacity and collective agency. In Busia their advocacy led to the operationalization of a dispensary that had stalled for several years. In Baringo there is improved access to water by over 730 households due to the completion of water projects.”

Social audits have evolved to not only cover brick and mortar but also cover actual service provision. As a matter of fact, the office of the Auditor General has adopted the citizen accountability model to get public input on implementation of public services. I believe the solution to change is in the voices of the people sharing their input and following through. We are contributing to this by enabling more citizens to engage with budget information and processes. So far, we engage in 36 counties having trained 76 budget facilitators who actively drive public finance conversations at the county, regional and national level. In practice, this has helped in the realization of public participation in the budget process to the lowest level possible (Ward level). By the end of 2024 we are working to reach all Kenya’s 47 counties.? ??