KENYA

Alongside Ghana and Rwanda, Kenya is among the first African countries that acceded to the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) in March 2003, in Abuja, Nigeria.

Following the process involving both self-assessment and an external assessment that was led by the National APRM Governing Council (NAPRM-GC) , Kenya developed a Comprehensive Country self-assessment Report and National Programme of Action (NPoA) covering four thematic areas: (democracy and good political governance, economic governance and management, corporate governance, socio-economic development).

In line with the requirements from the Panel of the APRM, Kenya had submitted a six months progress report in January 2007, followed by an annual progress report addressing the progress made towards the realization of the NPoA, its successes, strengths and challenges. The Kenyan government has made progress in its commitments to entrench good governance within the APRM frameworks and the implementation of the Programme of Action (NPoA).

DEMOCRACY AND GOOD POLITICAL GOVERNANCE

•  Land Policy and programmes to address ownership, use, tenure and administration of land are in the process of being finalized;

•  Prevention, management and resolution measures have been taken by the Kenyan government to minimize intra-state conflicts;

•  To enhance Public safety and ensure security, the number of the police force has been increased, access roads have been opened for better police patrols in sensitive areas and a community policing framework has been launched;

•  To promote responsible journalism, professionalism and ethics in the media industry, the government has opened dialogue with the Media Owners Association;

•  In order to promote and protect People's Rights, the government has undertaken several actions. Establishing Action Plan on Human Rights to address violation of Rights by the government itself is among those actions;

•  Establishment of a draft Judicial Service Bill aimed to enhance the independence and financial autonomy of the judiciary;

•  Anti-corruption bodies and committees have been developed to fight corruption. Moreover, appropriate legislation has been passed;

•  Gender inequality has been addressed by establishing Women empowerment initiatives like for instance amending existing inheritance laws and taking Affirmative Action to secure their rights to education;

•  The promotion and protection of the rights of children and young persons has been done through enforcement of legislation on the violation of Children's Rights and increasing awareness programmes.

ECONOMIC GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

•  The Insurance Regulatory Authority has been operationalized to reinforce insurance companies' regulation, the Capital Markets Authority Act has been reexamined to strengthen its supervisory role and commercial banks' operations have been standardized with international best practices;

•  The Ministry of Finance has started to publish annual Public Debt Management Report to enhance the spread of information on public debt;

•  Public expenditure has been restructured towards more resources allocation for social sectors;

•  Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Act 2005 has been operationalized through the development of Regulations coming into effect on 1 st January 2007

•  Transparency in the budget process is secured through the publication of quarterly budget reviews and public expenditure reviews;

•  In order to implement fiscal decentralization, each District is in the process of preparing a District Investment Plan indicating the revenues required;

•  Legislatives aimed at strengthening labor laws have been published;

•  The strategy for Public Financial Management is being implemented and more benchmarks have been reached by June 2007;

•  The Crime and Anti-Money Laundering Bill 2007 has been finalized and published on 12 th April 2007.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

•  To reach an optimal acceptable reporting standard for SMEs, International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) has developed a draft International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for MSEs;

•  A legal framework facilitating the growth of micro finance institutions supporting MSEs development has been put in place in January 2007;

•  More companies have registered at the Nairobi Stock Exchange;

•  Progress has been made in the development and rehabilitation of Kenyan road networks and the Kenya Roads Bill 2007 is before Parliament;

•  Reforms have been made and the water services has been decentralized for a better efficiency in water provision and storage;

•  Improvement has been made in business and entrepreneurial skills especially in the MSEs through the institution of a Technical Industrial Vocational and Entrepreneurial Training Programme (TIVET);

•  To strengthen the role and capacity of Trade Unions, a capacity building programme in their movements is being carried out;

•  The private sector business Council collaborates with the National Aids Control Council and other local and international organizations' in management of HIV/AIDS;

•  In addition to the legal framework against corruption that has been put in place, the National Anti-Corruption Steering Committee has been working on changing public perception on corruption by developing awareness of its bad outcomes;

•  Corporate Governance Guidelines for shareholders has been published by the Center for Corporate Governance to increase awareness among shareholders and members of cooperatives on their rights;

•  Fight against counterfeiting and contraband goods is being carried out.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

•  By mobilizing domestic resources through media campaigns, Kenya has been able to promote its self-reliance in development and the National Budget for the year 2006/2007 has been 95% financed by tax revenue;

•  Overall poverty (both rural and urban) has decreased;

•  A number of measures towards enhancement of youth employment have been put in place. For instance, the creation of Youth Enterprise Fund allowing young people to get access of affordable capital for their businesses;

•  A free primary education programme is being implemented and a transparent bursary disbursement mechanisms has been established;

•  To address quality and access to healthcare services, diverse reforms in the sector have been implemented hence, 1000 additional dispensaries have been built and budgetary allocation for drugs increased by 72%;

•  Implementation of rural electrification schemes has been approved by the government;

•  The Communications Commission has started a telecommunication cost study towards ensuring cost-based and affordable services;

•  The Equality Bill and the domestic violence have been enacted;

•  Capacity building activities engaging stakeholders in planning issues and fostering broad-based participation in development by all stakeholders at all levels have been undertaken.

More information is available on http://www.nepad.org/aprm