Office of the Citizen is the logical evolution of years’-long efforts of the Okoa Uchumi Campaign, a citizen-led civil society initiative founded in 2019 to champion transparency and accountability in fiscal governance in Kenya.
TISA envisions a Citizen-led public accountability for good governance. To achieve this, TISA recognizes the need for a multifaceted approach that addresses the root causes of social inequality and injustice. At the core of TISA’s strategy is the belief that active citizen engagement catalyzes social accountability and change. TISA will work to strengthen the capacity of citizens and civil society organizations (CSOs) to engage with government institutions and oversight commissions, both demanding accountability and speaking truth to power.
As the sun rays in this country that houses the equator usher us into 2025, The Institute forSocial Accountability (TISA) sends forth a clarion call to all the people of Kenya and active citizens of the globe. May the voice of the people get hoarse while ensuring that democracy finds its rhythm not in the hollow echoes of boardrooms but in the heartbeat of the people.
TISA defines social accountability as the process by which citizens hold duty-bearers responsible for their actions. This involves ensuring that individuals, agencies, and organizations, particularly those in the public sector, execute their powers under established standards, whether mutually agreed upon or not. TISA operates on the premise of addressing the challenge of holding duty-bearers accountable during the five-year intervals between election cycles.
The Institute of Social Accountability’s core mandate is to empower citizens to demand for sound delivery of services by holding their leaders to account through direct engagement. Thus, TISA’s mission is to help Kenyans find their voice and agency to claim their rights to services; make the Kenyan government accountable for its duties and promises; and ultimately, “make the constitution a lived experience.”
16/12/2020 We the petitioners Kenya Human Rights Commission, Transparency International
Kenya, AfriCOG and Wanjiru Gikonyo on behalf of The Institute for Social Accountability (TISA)
working together with Katiba Institute welcome the decision of the High Court which serves to protect
the interests of county governments in the national budget process in Kenya.
Informed by the unlawful reading of the 2019/2020 national budget statement by the then CS Henry Rotich
in parliament on 14th June 2019, at a time when there was a standoff over the Division of Revenue Bill
2019, we moved to court to challenge the decision of the National Treasury to deliver the national budget
statement for the financial year 2019/2020. We were aggrieved that the tabling of the budget estimates
without incorporation of the Division of Revenue Bill 2019, which Bill dictates the sharing of revenue
between the National and County Governments, was illegal and unconstitutional, and that it had violated
the budgeting process prescribed in Articles 218 and 221 of the Constitution of Kenya.
On 8th November 2019, we delivered a ruling on the appellants’ Notice of Motion
application dated 30th January, 2018 and lodged in the Supreme Court Registry on
31st January, 2018 allowing the application in the following terms:
a) The Application dated 30th January, 2018 is hereby allowed;