The Commission on Administrative Justice (Office of the Ombudsman) has rolled out programmes towards building capacities of county government officers to handle complaints.
The programmes also seek to ensure proactive disclosure of information to the public for effective implementation of projects.
Speaking in Hola town during a meeting between MCAs from Tana River County Assembly, CAJ Vice-Chairperson Washington Sati urged all 47 county governments to move fast to domesticate County Complaints Handling Policy and Model Law on Access to Information for County Governments.
Sati said the policy provides key guidance on complaint-handling processes.
“It is focused on supporting and ensuring mainstreaming of complaints handling in the provision of services by counties to promote responsiveness and accountability,” he said.
He added that specific focus has been paid to complaint channels at the county and ward levels for use during the implementation of the World Bank-funded Financing Locally Led Climate Action Programme. (FLLoCA programme).
CAJ will offer continued capacity building and technical support to counties to domesticate and implement the policies.
The complaints handling policy for counties was developed by the Commission with support from the National Treasury and the World Bank.
It seeks to remedy the piecemeal approach to complaint handling in the counties.
It is also geared towards providing a framework for standardisation of complaint-handling processes for county Governments.
Tana River County Assembly Speaker Osman Galole thanked the team for the visit and appealed to the Commission to open an office in Tana River County to bring its services closer to the people.
During the visit on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Commission trained county staff charged with the responsibility of handling grievances and facilitating access to information.
Officers trained included members of the Climate Change Units at the county and ward levels, who will from time to time handle complaints from the members of the public arising out of the implementation of the FLLoCA programme.
FLLoCA is a programme’s main objective is to deliver locally-led climate resilience actions and strengthen county and national governments’ capacities to manage climate risks.
CAJ is a key partner in the programme based on its integral role in promoting administrative justice and access to information in the public sector.
The Commission also carried out Public education, and outreach activities at the main market in Hola Town targeting members of the public.
This was geared towards empowering citizens to hold counties accountable.
