The National Assembly Finance Committee Chair, Kuria Kimani, has called for a transformation in how public participation is carried out, particularly during the budget-making process.
Speaking to a local media station on Tuesday, April 8, 2025, Kuria emphasised the importance of making public participation more inclusive and effective.
Kuria believes it is time for a shift in approach, advocating for the recognition of feedback and interactions on social media platforms as legitimate forms of public engagement.
The Molo MP further revealed that members of the Department of Budget Committee and National Planning are considering the integration of social media as a key tool for active public participation in the Finance Bill 2025.
“One of the conversations we are having as the national assembly and as a department of budget committee and national planning is that the way public participation has always been carried out is so traditional, where we thought that we scored very greatly, is calling people for a town hall meeting at KICC,” Kuria Kimani said.
“The question is how many people are willing to leave their workplaces to come to KICC and give their views? Perhaps we need to have a way of taking the feedback we get from our social media platforms as actual, active public participation. We are not saying you need to write an email,” he said.
“As we start this budget-making process, we want to make that public participation much more involved so that the public, especially recognising that there are more ways of public participation that are more effective, rather than calling people to a town hall, although the town hall meeting is important.”
The vocal MP expressed satisfaction that discussions on the new budget process are taking place before the bills are tabled in parliament.
He emphasised the responsibility to educate the public and ensure they understand the process well in advance.
“As we now start this new budget process, I am happy we have this discussion before these bills are tabled in parliament; we now have a responsibility not just to educate, but the public will have a chance to understand this process long before it starts,” he added.
Kuria on Finance Bill 2024
Reflecting on the rejected Finance Bill 2024, Kuria Kimani pointed out that protests arose when people only learnt about the Finance Bill at the end of the process, despite public participation already having been conducted.
“One of the greatest challenges we had last year – that was why we got to the protest – at the time that people were learning that there is something called the Finance Bill; it was at the tail end of the process, and they said, ‘We are being overtaxed without public participation,’ whereas public participation had been conducted and concluded,” he added.