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{
    "id": 697903,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/697903/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 314,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. (Prof.) Lesan",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 506,
        "legal_name": "Wilfred Rottich Lesan",
        "slug": "wilfred-rottich-lesan"
    },
    "content": "Thank you, Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir. I rise to second this Motion; that the Senate adopts the Report of the 3rd Global Open Government Partnership (OGP) Summit that was held in Mexico. The participant of this conference, Sen. (Dr.) Zani, has elaborated on the participation of this summit in Mexico. This is an important organisation that has come into place at the right time, particularly in this part of the world - the African countries - where openness is still a huge challenge in terms of managing people and governments. We must congratulate our country for moving in this direction of joining world organisations that have come together in order to have governments that are transparent, open and participatory in terms of any organized groups. Kenya has already gone this direction in terms of what has been introduced along with the devolved government units. Within the Constitution and the County Government Act, we have an important aspect of public participation. This is one of the ways of giving necessary information to the public, so as to assist them to be governed better. Public participation would be useful if there is civic education. I must congratulate the Government of Kenya through the Ministry of Education for launching an elaborate curriculum of civic education for the people of this country to engage in public participation and open criticism of their Government in order to help them. We have had serious issues in the past. For example, we have had issues to do with Moi University because of lack of organized participants who would agitate for opinions or ideas that are on the ground. A vacuum is left behind and it is filled by disorganized groups. With civic education and accepted and acknowledged public participation, issues like these would be addressed in a friendly manner, so that better results are attained. Therefore, public participation, open governments and organized societies, like civil societies participating in government, is an accepted phenomenon. With Information and Communication Technology (ICT) huge information can be handled. Voluminous information can be handled very fast. It is now inevitable that systems and governments cannot run without using this system of information. It should be open and controlled so that it can be used to manage people and governments. Of course, we need to be careful so that this information is not misused in the form of propaganda and other entities that can use it in a non-deserving manner. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, with this kind of level of information transfer, we are now faced with a huge challenge of crime that is associated with this mode of transferring information. We are aware that cyber crime is rampant around the countries and it is starting to be felt by growing economies that are using these technologies. Open governance, as enumerated by OGP, is one way of taming wayward governance. I want to laud the first nine countries that came together and thought it wise that the civic or activist societies need to challenge or channel their energies in supporting governments rather than having to be in confrontation with governments throughout the world. We have seen organized activists groups that have been denied space go underground and cause serious harm in most of the countries. We have seen this in the The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate"
}