Participatory Budgeting in Kenya: Finance Minister invites Suggestions through Social Media
Image via Wikipedia
Marvin Tumbo, Contributor:
The Kenyan Government has been getting quite tech savvy in the recent past, becoming more pronounced as Kenyans join the civil service. This has resulted in subtle, but solid, movements towards a better connected Government as was showcased during the Connected Kenya Summit in Mombasa in April.
Another aspect of this tech savviness can be seen by those you would not ordinarily see as leaders or early adopters of technology. No one showcases this better than the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Uhuru Kenyatta. He has the second largest following on Facebook with just over 70,500 likes on his page and over 4150 followers on Twitter, and he has shown the most diverse and inclusive usage of social media with active engagement. In addition, he also maintains a presence on YouTube, Scribd and Flickr.
A New Media Informed Budget
In an unprecedented move in Kenya, Africa, and even the world at large, the Finance Minister asked Kenyans to send in their ideas and suggestions on the Budget through a Google Document Form that was embedded on his Facebook Fanpage and whose link he tweeted to get Kenyans to make their voices count by taking part in the budget making process.
There was a lot of positive feedback from Kenyans online as they tweeted their ideas and suggestions while others wrote what they wanted as comments on his Facebook status updates on the Budget. Others filled in the Google Document form that was provided which allowed Kenyan to submit their suggestions in order of priority. There was a drop down menu through which Kenyans could choose the budgetary sector and write their comments on it.
This process ran for a week from the 6th through the 13th of May. While some faulted the move as coming a bit too late in the day given the budget is set to be read in Mid June, it was by and large a very welcome move that gained a lot of traction for the week that it ran. Uhuru Kenyatta has therefore set the stage for how Government officials, and Government in general, interacts with its citizens. It will be interesting to watch what new social media frontiers he will explore next to better engage Kenyans.
Post Author: marvin.tumbo. Bio:
//
