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    "id": 812094,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/812094/?format=api",
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    "content": "effective public participation is? What would constitute an effective public participation? What would guide these authorities that will come up with regulations that will be effective? At the heart of any public participation are three things: It is accountability to the citizens. I do not think we have been accountable as a country to our citizens, not in law, not in practice nor in spirit. This law is not an end in itself. It is meant to ensure that we are accountable to the citizens of this country. Madam Temporary Speaker, another thing at the heart of public participation is effecting or having an input into the decisions that are made; be they decisions to spend our resources or taxes or decisions to decide what projects come to our counties. There is accountability that must really be an outcome of this Bill. There must be stewardship and effect on the decisions that are made that must be an outcome of this Bill. There must be innovation that must be an outcome of this Bill because of the many ideas that the public participants will offer so that our governance is innovative, better, cheaper and on time because people have given us great ideas. What are the mechanisms of these effective ways of accountability, affecting decision-making and innovation around how we do business? The number one driver of corruption or even of below optimal stewardship is decision-making. That is why public participation must influence the decisions that we make at every level. At the parliamentary level, in our Governments and executives, decision-making must be why we have public participation. People must then be part of the decisions that we take. In fact, if we were to curb corruption, I think this Bill should be used as a tool. We speak of procurement and things like that, what if public participation is part of the evaluation of public procurement? It does not have to take so long. It can be one day, electronic or digital. What if the evaluations that are made by the public procurement entities become scrutinized in a public participation forum? That is something for us to ponder upon. Madam Temporary Speaker, I look at different provisions. I know we, as the Senate, have complained sometimes that we do not have effective public participation. I have certain suggestions for us because we are one of the public authorities who have been mentioned in this Bill. I have read in this Bill that public authorities that will come up with regulations, including Parliament, must come up with a clearly defined feedback mechanism. This is something that other Senators who have spoken alluded to, clearly defined feedback mechanisms. I know it has been said that some of the suggestions have not been captured in budgets. It is well and good. Even if you do not capture that, you should give us feedback so that we know why. I do not think communities insist that everything they said must be included in the budgets but feedback is what is lacking. They need to be told if a cut is made and what other priorities were ahead of the whims that certain people have given. There is also need to have clearly defined mechanisms to ensure online access to what people have submitted. Sometimes you do not even know what people have said about certain things during public participation. We should also upload some of the reports as well to different websites even if we do not want very expensive ways of getting feedback. How do we popularize public 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."
}