Me too, once Parliament is opened to the public (to access the information there) it would be great. The current parliament has done a lot in improving the 'public judgement' of the parliamentarians while in the chambers, although I gather most of the work is done in the committees. The speaker has done a lot in creating an avenue for live broadcasts etc And as Rad has said, 'technology in itself will not help if the people don't have the drive to participate', I concur with him. On 13/11/2009, Rad! <[email protected]> wrote:
I would also be very interested in getting concrete commitments from the committee in the opening up of parliament and parliamentary information to Kenyans. They need to walk the talk. I know from personal experience it is extremely difficult to get information out of parliament like hansards, bills, voting positions etc. Even information on parliamentarians is cursory at best - look at the MP profiles on the current site http://www.parliament.go.ke/parliament/members.php.
Parliamentarians and supporting institutions need to demonstrate a commitment to engage the citizens. Technology in itself won't help if the people don't have the drive to participate
On Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 11:52 AM, Edith Adera <[email protected]> wrote:
Hon. Rege,
You are onto something interesting here...parliament using new media (blogs, twitter, sms-based interactios etc) to engage with citizens to enhance democracy and accountability in Kenya.
As Chair of the Parliamentary committee on communication, would you be willing (together with the Speaker) to champion this idea with support?
Look forward to your views.
Edith
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