Education CS Ezekiel Machogu. Photo: KNA

We are facing a crisis - our children's education is crumbling right before us, and it is happening fast.

President William Ruto's administration has perpetuated the trend of neglecting public education, following in the footsteps of previous regimes. Under Ruto’s watch, public education has deteriorated further.

Ezekiel Machogu, the Education CS Ruto appointed, is not the right person for the job. He is driving our education sector into the ground.

The situation could worsen with widespread irregularities in national examination results, inadequate school infrastructure, protesting Junior Secondary School (JSS) teachers, withheld capitation fees, and indecisiveness in communicating when the second term should resume due to floods.

Machogu should not face the consequences of this mess alone. The fish rots from the head—and we know who the boss is, Ruto.

The Elimu Bora Working Group (EBWG) now demands the following to save the future of our children:

1. Machogu must resign immediately.

2. The government must allocate resources to fix flood damage to schools, ensuring our children's safety and allowing them to resume learning.

3. The Ministry of Education must immediately release all the capitation money it owes to schools, allowing them to operate optimally.

4. JSS intern teachers must be employed permanently and given pensions, as ordered by the court, to avert a looming strike. Parliament must allocate funds for this.

President Ruto, if you can't lead Kenya effectively, step down.

This report gives the final overview of the project, Mainstreaming HIV awareness in Democracy & Governance CSOs. The project was implemented between December 2008 and September 2009 in Nairobi. The report states the project goal and objectives as outlined in the project planning document. In brief, this report gives results or outputs, outcome, impact emerging after the project implementation, challenges/lessons learned and recommendations made there off.

A total of 24 member organisations and one non-member organisation were reached through 3 workshops organized with the intention of developing the consortium policy and their HIV/AIDS work place policies. The project sort to establish how many among the consortium members had developed HIV/AIDS work place policies and consequently assist those who did not have the said policies, to develop their own.

Some of the activities which the project intended to accomplish by the end of the project period included;

• Needs assessment of member organizations/capacity audit
• Sensitization workshop for CRECO and its members
• Development of a consortia HIV and AIDS policy
• In house training and policy development for member organizations
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Publication and launching of the Consortium policy

All the activities have been concluded as planned and CRECO is pursuing possibilities of ensuring that the 24 members get few copies printed for them and for those who can make copies for themselves, then they be allowed to continue.

Justice and human rights are at the heart of what Trócaire does and who we are. We believe that every woman, man and child is born equal and with the inalienable right to a dignified life, free from injustice.

Our work is grounded in Catholic Social Teaching, which stresses the dignity of each person and their inalienable human rights, along with their responsibilities, regardless of culture, ethnicity, gender or religion. This belief in the unity and diversity of humankind is the basic value we bring to what we do.

Over the past four decades, Trócaire has worked alongside our partners in Kenya to protect and respond to basic human rights. We are therefore very pleased to have been able to support our partner CRECO to capture and share the findings of this very important report on human rights violations during COVID 19.

This report places a particular emphasis on the role of the state, as the state is primarily responsible for ensuring the respect, promotion, protection and fulfilment of rights. The report does not disregard the importance of actors such as the civil society, INGOs, and

Academia. However, the focus in terms of demanding accountability is on the state, which has a duty to protect citizens against human rights abuses. Finally this report stresses that COVID19 should not be used as a weapon to advance and promote human rights violations.

Trócaire continues to support partner organisations to monitor, document and advocate against human rights abuses with a view to achieving an end to impunity and uphold the observance of international human rights law. Taking a rights-based approach means that we put human rights at the centre of development and strive to ensure that universally recognised standards of human rights are promoted and upheld at all times and in all situations, including COVID 19.

In conclusion I would like to appeal to donors and INGOs to reflect on their commitment to the promotion of human rights in Kenya Funding for this very crucial work has been on the decline over the past decade despite the fact that any violation of people’s basic human rights is a violation of the Sustainable Development Goals that Kenya is striving to meet. This cannot be done without additional support to promote Justice and Human Rights.

Download the full report here.

National values are an integral part of every society. The drafters of the 2010 Constitution were conscious of this fact and indeed ensured that these values were not only included in the Constitution but also provided for legal mechanisms for the implementation of the same. This is because the mere existence of national values written in our laws – as much as this may be deemed an achievement, may not necessarily suffice. A purposed execution of these values, driven by a utilitarian logic and an undying political will actually demonstrates true appreciation of national values.

Civil Society Organizations, under the auspices of the Technical Working Group on the monitoring of National Values and Principles of Governance (NVPG) implementation saw the need to annually appraise the government’s performance insofar as the implementation of NVPG is concerned. Here is CRECO Shadow Report on NV&PoG on the status of implementation of National Values & Principles of Governance

An Analysis of The Digital Civic Space

This research – Digital Audit of the Civil Society Sector - was commissioned so as to document the status of civil society in the digital age and analyse the digital civic space. This chronicling and compilation of matters affecting the digital operations of organizations in the democracy and governance space in Kenya looks at

developments over the last 10 years and seeks to draw linkages to how technological advancements and the Internet have affected how civil society conducts its work both positively and negatively. This report will enhance awareness of the digital landscape in which organizations operate, and influence organizations to re-strategize and reposition themselves to leverage and maximize the opportunities afforded by the digital space. By positing recommendations to various stakeholders for action, it will serve as a learning document for individuals and organizations who will be able to glean best practices from the initiatives highlighted.

The Constitution and Reform Education Consortium (CRECO) is a coalition of civil society organizations (CSOs) working on democracy, governance, legal and human rights issues. It was founded in 1998 and registered as Charitable Trust in 2005. Although, founded by legal and human rights NGOs, CRECO’s membership has evolved over the years. Currently, the coalition brings together CSOs working in different sectors but with a common aim of promoting constitutionalism and good governance in Kenya. CRECO has a total membership of 25 CSOs. Moreover, CRECO advances this mandate through partnership with other like-minded organizations and such civil society networks as Kenya Transitional Justice Network (KTJN), Kenyans for Peace with Truth and Justice (KPTJ) among others. In December 2010, CRECO undertook an organizational assessment/strategic planning exercise. This culminated into a five year strategic plan with the three core thematic areas:-Civic Engagement; Human Rights and Institutional Capacity Development. CRECO also changed its identity statement, vision, mission and core values as follows respectively; Vision: A just society and Mission: To promote constitutionalism, democratic governance and institutional development. CRECO will deliver this vision and mission through three strategies namely: civic engagement, institutional strengthening and human rights. Finally, in planning and executing its programmes and activities, and in its relations with partners and other players, CRECO will always be guided by the following fundamental values: Integrity, Accountability; Equity and equality; Professionalism, Innovation; Respect for diversity; and, Tolerance.

1. B) CRECO’s WORK TOWARDS CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY

CRECO began its work with country wide civic education targeted at citizens’ participation in the process of reviewing Kenya’s constitution. The climax of this was in the design and implementation of the National Civic Education Program (NCEP I) in the period 2000-2002. NCEP 1 served as a platform for creating a new cadre of leadership in Kenya. The “Moi Must Go!” campaign, an initiative of the program, was a major success. It is attributed to the massive triumph of the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) in the 2002 general elections.

The NARC Government came to power through a reform agenda and platform which included a promise of delivering a new constitution in 100 days. The promise was never fulfilled due to a number of factors including an attempt to curtail public participation compounded by emerging power wrangles between the National Alliance for Change (NAC) and the Liberal Democratic Party wings of the NARC government in the

This is report seeks to give an analysis of what has been observed by four organizations working towards ensuring that 2007 elections are conducted in a free and fair manner. These organisations have been funded by HIVOS and are working under the coordination of Constitution & Reform Education Consortium (CRECO).

The report outlines issues that were monitored from the month of December 2007 and it was carried out in 48 constituencies by our respective constituency observes. The issues under consideration include:

• Political party campaigns
• Violence that is till being experienced during campaigns especially gender based violence.
• Role of media during the electioneering period
• Hate speech and misuse of state resources
• The issues arising out of government institutions i.e. The ECK conduct, the Judiciary and the police and security provision.

The report also makes suggestions of what needs to be done by different actors among them Citizens of Kenya, ECK, and State institutions like the Police, the Judiciary and Kenya Anti - Corruption Commission (KACC) to ensure that current and future elections in this country are conducted in a democratic and free and fair manner.

It calls for urgent actions that need to be put in place - The ECK to effectively enforce the electoral code of conduct not only on errant aspirants but also on parties, the Judiciary to expeditiously act on the pending cases in court related to election violence, petitions etc and the police to act very fast in apprehending those people who are perpetrating acts of violence. It also calls on Kenyans to ensure they desist from violence and report cases of violence to the relevant actors including police and other relevant authorities.

The period under review has been seen some incidences that are critical in the violent eruptions that have led to loss of lives. Key among these include;

The fatal crash of a helicopter carrying the top leadership in the Security portfolio - Hons George Saitoti and Orwa Ojode and their security detail

• The attack on Christian faithful in churches in Garissa by perceived Al-Shabaab militants
• Riots in Mombasa by youth protesting the killing of the Muslim Cleric Aboud Rogo Mohammed; which resulted in direct attacks on several churches and the death of four people including two police officers.
•  The clashes in Mandera involving militia from Ethiopia.
• The Tana River Massacre

This is indeed an escalation of occurrences of violence in the country.

In the violence mapping report that CRECO released in May 20121, we stipulated that we were using the indices developed by the Kenyan National Steering Committee on Peace Building and Conflict Management (NSC)2 to map potential for conflict in the country. Using this framework, we developed indicative scores against a maximum of 5 scores (the maximum denoting highest potential for conflict as a result of each variable).

In respect of that conflict mapping report for example, Tana River County, which was one of the High risk areas that were identified, scored as follows:

The Elections Observation Group (ELOG), a consortium of civil society organisations and other stakeholders was established in 2010, seeks to provide a permanent national platform through which citizens can monitor general elections in Kenya and other countries in Africa. The primary mission of ELOG is to promote democratic governance in Kenya and other African countries by ensuring that countries hold regular, transparent, accountable and credible elections. ELOG members include:

• Catholic Justice and Peace Commission (CJPC),
• Centre for Governance and Development (CGD);
• Consortium for Empowerment and Development of Marginalized Communities (CEDMAC);
• Constitution and Reform Education Consortium (CRECO);
• Ecumenical Centre for Justice and Peace (ECJP)
• Federation of Women Lawyers of Kenya (FIDA).
• Institute for Education in Democracy (IED);
• National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK)
• Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (SUPKEM);
• United Disabled Persons of Kenya (UDPK)
• Youth Agenda (YAA)

ELOG Strategy on Thematic Issues Observation Based on the Vision and Mission as captured in the strategic plan, ELOG has determined that its greatest focus within the plan period will be the 2013 General Elections. It is around this that all of ELOG’s planned objectives and strategies will be organized with the goal to comprehensively monitor and observe the next election in order to strengthen electoral process in Kenya.

The Constitution & Reform Education Consortium (CRECO) is a multisectoral network of 24 Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) working in the democracy and governance sector. The network was formed in 1998, initially with the intention of undertaking countrywide mass civic education targeted at the constitutional review process. The early work of CRECO culminated in the design and implementation of National Civic Education Program (NCEP I), between the years 2000 and 2002. CRECO also coordinated 22 organizations which were implementing the second phase of the National Civic Education (NCEP II) in all the 8 provinces in the country.

Unlike in the first phase, CRECO expanded its network by accommodating 12 non‐core members of CRECO implementing the programme. CRECO has over time expanded its mandate and stands today as a network that envisions a just society. Its mission is to promote constitutionalism, democratic governance and institutional development through coordination and capacity building of civil society. The consortium is currently implementing programs within the framework of a 5‐year strategic plan, with the goal of entrenching democratic governance in Kenya.

A Council comprising of one representative from each of the 21 members governs CRECO. The council elects a 7‐member Management Committee, which implements the policies of the Consortium. The Management Committee oversees the operations of a technical secretariat that was established in 2001 to coordinate the implementation of the programs of the consortium.

This report is as a result of citizen dialogues held in 10 Counties across the country in the period between October and December 2013. In the 

dialogues, we sought to ascertain the perceptions of people as to why, against a strong indication that there would be violence, there was little if any electoral violence (in comparison to 2007/8).

In it, we have avoided drawing any conclusions and or making prescriptive statements. Instead, we have tried as much as possible to present the voices as we heard them. We hope that the report will be used to sustain conversations among Kenyans that will contribute to active and continuous reconciliation work.

The coming into force of the Constitution of Kenya in 2010 has widely been seen as a cornerstone for the development of a national ethos that unites us as a country and a precursor to peaceful co-existence. The letter and spirit of the constitution have thus to be operationalised through a plethora of connected actions such as reforms in government arms and organs, legislative effectiveness and efficiency, respect for the rule of just law and civic engagement.

The role of the citizens in ensuring that as a country we realise peace and prosperity cannot be gainsaid. Kenya’s diversity is perhaps its strongest asset, but in the past it has been used as a fulcrum for divisive politics and marginalisation. We have an opportunity as a country to change that by accepting the fact that we are one nation, one people and are bound by one destiny. 

The Constitution and Reform Education Consortium – CRECO, undertook a study to map out the incidences of violence as has been witnessed in the recent past in order to develop a basis for monitoring and carrying out other actions by different actors that are hoped to culminate in building a culture of peace in Kenya. Indeed this study is a critical but first step in the process. The report is referenced to march 31st 2012.

National values are an integral part of every society. The drafters of the 2010 Constitution were conscious of this fact and indeed ensured that these values were not only included in the Constitution but also provided for legal mechanisms for the implementation of the same. This is because the mere existence of national values written in our laws – as much as this may be deemed an achievement, may not necessarily suffice. A purposed execution of these values, driven by a utilitarian logic and an undying political will actually demonstrates true appreciation of national values.

Civil Society Organizations, under the auspices of the Technical Working Group on the monitoring of National Values and Principles of Governance (NVPG) implementation saw the need to annually appraise the government’s performance insofar as the implementation of NVPG is concerned. Here is CRECO Shadow Report on NV&PoG on the status of implementation of National Values & Principles of Governance

That Kenyans voted overwhelmingly in support of a new constitution is a vindication of the
campaign. The implementation phase requires that citizens understand the constitution,
what it means for them and what action they need to take to ensure that we as a nation
are not betrayed by the Political class like it happened in three major moments of great
expectations: at independence, after the repeal of Section 2A ushering in multi-partyism,
and after the defeat of KANU IN 2002. For more information click on the Booklet

Strengths of the PBO Act
The PBO Act will address the numerous challenges facing PBOs as a result of the unsatisfactory legal framework by:
1. Providing a favorable environment for the setting up, growth and running of PBOs.
2. Putting in place a useful system of rules, laws and institutions that support registration and functioning of PBOs.
3. Triggering a re-birth of values within the sector by strengthening self regulation.
4. Putting in place an independent complaint and redress mechanism - The PBO Disputes Tribunal - to give PBOs and members of the public access to remedies where the self-regulatory mechanisms have failed or where they view decisions by the PBO Regulatory Authority as unsatisfactory.
5. Specifically allowing PBOs to take on commercial activities in order to support their public benefit objectives.

Read full Act below:

Shughuli ya bajeti ya mwaka 2014/2015 ilikumbwa na changamoto nyingi lakini kaunti zilifanikiwa kutoa mwongozo wa mipango ya fedha kwa mara ya kwanza na kaunti nyingi ziliandaa bajeti zao kwa kuzingatia mwongozo huu. Zaidi ya yote, kama inavyohitajika na sheria ya mwaka 2012 kuhusu matumizi ya fedha za umma, kaunti nyingi mwaka huu zilitengeneza bajeti kwa kuzingatia Program Based Budgeting (ratiba ya utekelezaji).

Huku kaunti zikikamilisha shughuli za kutengeneza bajeti zao, ni wakati mzuri wa kuanza kuzichunguza bajeti hizo. Ili kuwasaidia wananchi na mashirika katika kiwango cha kaunti kuelewa bajeti zao, tumeboresha mwongozo wetu wa “Maswali 16 Muhimu Kuhusu Bajeti” ili kuufanya uwe na maswali 20.

Hili lilichochewa pakubwa hasa na haja ya kutaka kutoa mwongozo zaidi kwa wale wanaosoma bajeti inayozingatia ratiba ya utekelezaji, ambayo ni tofauti sana na bajeti ya orodha ya matumizi ya kawaida kama vile mafuta ya gari, karatasi, kalamu na kadhalika. Japo kaunti zitakuwa zimefanya mabadiliko ili kutengeneza bajeti kwa kuzingatia mtindo wa kimpangilio, mwongo zo wa maswali 16 muhimu ungalipo (pamoja na mifano mingi ya namna mwongozo huu ulivyotumika).

Huku tukiwahimiza wananchi na wabunge wa kaunti kutumia mwongozo huu wa maswali 20 muhimu kutathmini bajeti zao, tunawahimiza pia kuendelea kufuatilia utekelezaji wa bajeti, kwani, mapendekezo ya bajeti na bajeti zilizoidhinishwa ni mwanzo tu wa shughuli nzima ya bajeti.

Kenyans have deep and longstanding concerns about the ways in which resources have been distributed throughout the country. Many regions and communities felt that they had been excluded by a strong central regime.

The antidote in the 2010 Constitution is, on the one hand, devolution of power to lower levels of government and, on the other hand, an attempt to open up institutions at all levels and increase the opportunities for public participation, as well as greater checks by new bodies, such as the Controller of Budget, the County Assemblies and the Senate.

It follows from this that public participation is in part about aligning the needs and demands of the public more closely with the choices of government officials.

This suggests that public participation must occur at the formulation and approval stages of the budget and planning, when priorities are being set. At this stage, public participation will enhance decision making by bringing information about public needs to the attention of policy makers as they prioritize their spending. This can lead to more equitable distribution of resources.

The National Consolidation Conference on Harmonizing Civil Society Position on Content Issues in the Harmonized Draft Constitution was organized by the Katiba Sasa! Campaign, which is hosted by the CRECO Secretariat. The purpose of the conference was to facilitate deliberations by CSOs on the Harmonised Draft Constitution with a view to develop a common position on the recommendations and views that would be shared with the COE.

This report captures the proceedings of the National Consolidation Conference held at Kasarani Sports View Hotel in Nairobi. The report is organized and presented in five main parts flowing chronologically namely; (i) Introductory background to the harmonizing Civil Society position on content issues in the harmonized Draft Constitution (ii) Presentations by the Technical Team and the invited speakers (iii) Analysis of the harmonized Draft constitution by the international

experts (iv) Group discussions and plenary review (v) Adoption of Resolutions and Common Position.

The technical details of the report are structured so as to capture and highlight the critical issues around which resolutions on a common position were based. These revolved around all the chapters of the HDCK and were incorporated into “the Harmonized Analysis Draft Constitution: the Civil society Position” document annexed to this report.

 State corporation budgets are opaque. It requires time-consuming research to determine how much they get from the budget each year.

 State corporations were allocated Ksh 352 billion in the 2012/13 financial year (FY 2012/13). This is more than 30 percent of Kenya’s total budget for all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs). Furthermore, state corporations accounted for roughly half of all development expenditure in FY 2012/13.

 In FY 2012/13, almost 40 percent of the budgets of state corporations were funded by external sources in the form of loans and grants.

 A number of state corporations perform devolved functions and should be reformed in some way. In FY 2012/13, State corporations controlled roughly Ksh 117 billion in funds related to both devolved and concurrent functions, but 45 billion of this was externally financed and cannot be devolved.

 Additional funds from internally generated revenues of nearly 30 billion (Appropriations in Aid) could plausibly be devolved, but most of this funding is for roads, over 40 percent of it for national roads. The road funds that should be devolved might be devolved through conditional grants rather than given to counties outright for their use.

 While some of the remaining Ksh 42 billion should be considered for devolution to counties, many state corporations, such as water service boards, perform regional functions and should not simply be dissolved. It may make more sense to restructure these corporations to give counties managerial control than to dissolve them and redirect their funding to county budgets.

 In general, slashing state corporation budgets without well-conceived policy reform may actually undermine services and lead to a lack of clarity about who is responsible for delivering them.

 There has been little reform of state corporations since 2012/13. The 2014/15 budget shows that those corporations performing potentially devolved functions have actually increased their budgets by a small amount since devolution began.

The Kenya Governance Report 2012 is the second in a new series by the Africa Center for Open Governance. Every year, AfriCOG will review the events of the past year as they relate to critical issues and developments in governance reform and efforts against corruption, analyse their implications and make recommendations for the future.

We aim to do this in an accessible manner, for wider consumption

It is hoped that the Kenya Governance Reports will over time develop into a key resource on matters of governance and anti-corruption for our partners in civil society, the public sector, the international community and the general public. This report was finalized in early 2013 and covers the period from January to December 2012. AfriCOG would like to thank its Board of Directors, Stella Chege, John Githongo, Maina Kiai and Funmi Olonisakin for their support to our work.