Kenya can be considered a frontrunner in government transparency, as the first country in Sub-Saharan Africa to launch an Open Data Portal. Launched in July, the site is an initiative making public government information accessible to citizens (available at www.opendata.go.ke).
President Mwai Kibaki, who launched the portal earlier this year, told IT News Africa: “I call upon Kenyans to make use of this government data portal to enhance accountability and improve governance in our country.”
Kenya can be considered a frontrunner in government transparency, as the first country in Sub-Saharan Africa to launch an Open Data Portal. Launched in July, the site is an initiative making public government information accessible to citizens (available at www.opendata.go.ke).
President Mwai Kibaki, who launched the portal earlier this year, told IT News Africa: “I call upon Kenyans to make use of this government data portal to enhance accountability and improve governance in our country.”
Kaburo Kobia is project manager for the Kenya ICT Board, the government agency which started the portal. She emphasises the right of citizens to access to information, enshrined in Kenya’s new constitution. “We are pushing towards better access to information so citizens can become more empowered,” she says. “We want to make any information that citizens might want in the portal accessible.”
This portal allows citizens all over the country to find information in multiple formats, unlike in the secretive past, where government information was inaccessible. Information is provided by the Ministries of Finance, Planning, Local Government, Health and Education and the Kenyan National Bureau of Statistics.
Charles Onyango-Obbo, from the Nation Media Group in Kenya, expressed his enthusiasm regarding the portal.
“It has made research ten times easier, there are so many documents,” he says. “There are a lot of things which have been the target of rumours and now we can resolve them by fact.”
According to Onyango-Obbo, the site is also very good for businesses. For example, available data on education can be used to track school performance records. He adds that the portal has enabled other information tools: “There is now sufficient data, which has allowed the prediction of things such as rainfall patterns.”
This easy-to-navigate site has numerous categories, such as education, energy, health, population, poverty, water and sanitation. Citizens are not only able to access relevant information, but to participate in providing feedback on government schemes.
Google Africa’s Ory Okolloh (from Government Relations and Public Policy) writes that the launch of the portal “marks a turning point as far as how citizens can engage with government. It will result in new ways through which Kenyans can hold their leaders accountable and amplify their voice on complex issues”.
The site is driven by Information Permanent Secretary, Dr Bitange Ndemo. Ndemo, speaking to IT News Africa, says their role as a ministry is to take data and convert it into information so that it can be used for economic development.
According to Kobia, the Kenya ICT Board is planning to join the Open Government Partnership, a global initiative geared towards promoting more transparent and accountable governments. Among other things, it seeks to strengthen governance through the use of modern technology. However, according to Kobia, becoming part of the partnership requires more than just having the portal. One of the requirements is to have a cabinet action plan, which Kobia said was set to be passed soon.
Kobia says the ICT Board aims to carry on increasing the data sets, which reached 343 in August. As Kenya takes the lead in creating a more transparent government, hopefully other countries will follow this innovative move towards a more open democracy.
* This article originally appeared in Open Source, a Highway Africa publication.
