Forum is anchored on county public participation act 2017- says Hon Mwamtoa

Mombasa County CeC in charge of Agriculture Fisheries Livestock and Cooperatives photo (FILE)

By Peter Kombe

Mombasa county government has said all public participation is anchored within the stipulated county by laws.

The county says such forums are anchored in the Mombasa county public participation act of 2017.

“We are doing this public participation in line with the Mombasa county government act 2017 on public participation. Again the needs of the residents have been addressed due to our vigorous campaign we have done with our sub county administrators” Hon Mwamtoa said

Speaking to the media in Mombasa on Thursday during a public participation exercise Hassan Mwamtoa County Executive in charge of Agriculture, Fisheries, Livestock and Cooperatives refuted claims from the civil society that the exercise does not address the needs of Mombasa county locals.

He noted that all views and opinions have been incorporated into the 2019-2020 fiscal strategy paper.

“We have taken into consideration the needs of all the residents. If CSOs have any queries the county is open to every citizen” he noted

Mwamtoa however urged civil society groups within the county to present their grievances to the relevant county officials saying it operates through an open door policy.

He pointed out that the Ksh 14 billion fiscal strategy paper addresses the needs and concerns of the county residents.

“We are ready to partner with all the stakeholders so that we altogether address the issues that affect all of us” he noted

Earlier in the day, civil society groups led by Zedekiah Adika of Kituo cha Sheria had proposed that the exercise would otherwise have been done at the sub county level.

According to the CSOs the views of the public are not fully addressed.

“We feel as CSOs that our views were not fully taken into consideration. This public participation would have been done at the ward level” he said

He however called on the county government to streamline its feedback processes on public participation.

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