Public participation in the selection of public officers: a critical analysis of the mechanisms under the leadership & integrity act, 2012

Abstract

In Kenya public participation is one of the values and principles of governance provided for under Article 10 of the Constitution. These values and principles are binding on the State and every other person whenever they, among other things, interpret or enact any law. Article 73(2)(a) of the Constitution provides for criteria for selection of public officers which is that all public officers must be selected on the basis of their personal integrity, competence and suitability. This criterion requires participation of the public for purposes of gathering information to confirm that candidates to public offices comply with it. For the participation to be meaningful, it requires a guiding legal framework. In Kenya, that guiding framework is the Leadership & Integrity Act, 2012 (L&IA). Although the L&IA exists, there are still challenges that affect public participation during the selection of public officers. This is as shown in the Background section of this study. It appears that the L&IA does not facilitate meaningful public participation. The objective of the study therefore is to analyse the provisions of the L&IA with a view to establishing whether it facilitates public participation in any way, identify any existing gaps and also make recommendations for improvement. Chapter 2 of this study aims at creating an understanding as to what public participation entails. Chapter 3 contains an in-depth analysis of the provisions of the L&IA which brings out provisions which are facilitative of public participation and the gaps. Internationally, there are some best practices which have useful lessons and which have been used in making the recommendations. These are outlined in Chapter 4. Overall, the study concludes that indeed, there are some few provisions which can facilitate public participation in the selection of public officers. However, there are also numerous gaps. The study makes recommendations as to how those gaps can be addressed. This is seen in Chapter 5.