The potential role or lack therof of public participation in the formation of the nairobi metropolitan service
Date
2021-03
Authors
Ngala, Maria Goretti
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Strathmore University
Abstract
With the 2010 Constitution of Kenya having completed its first decade, some of the boldest features include public participation. With democracy and devolution at the fore front, this has enabled the government to provide a forum that would fully take into consideration the perspective of the citizens. With it was however, a big disappointment when the government iits attempt to create a solution to a political problem failed to apply this salient feature, when they transferred some gubernatorial functions back to a national government establishment the Nairobi Metropolitan Service. This has been seen as an institution that does not exist within the Constitutional provisions. This paper will attempt to look at the place of public participation within the context of a democracy and especially in relation with the transfer of functions.
Description
With that in mind, we have seen for a while the rise in the distrust between the citizens and
institution, more so national institutions worldwide. The reputation of political representatives as
being ‘not trustworthy’, the rise of anti-system-oriented populist parties, as well as the trend of
decreasing voter-turnout confirm a well-documented decline of trust levels within Western
societies well able to shake the foundations of representative democracies.1 Yet while the
consequences of existing levels of distrust for the individual have been developed extensively, the implications of mounting distrust for a society and its political institutions are controversial as they have been theoretically conceptualized in different ways.