Ruto Elected to Represent the Continent at A Global body

DP William Ruto

Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto has been elected to represent Kenya and the continent in a global governance body for three years.

The Standard newspaper reports that Ruto was last Monday elected to serve in the Steering Committee of the Open Government Partnership, a leading platform that brings together government leaders and civil society advocates to promote accountable, responsive and inclusive governance through civic participation, access to public information and leveraging on technology and innovation.

The Washington-based initiative was founded in 2011 under the leadership of former US President Barack Obama, and Kenya is a member since inception.

It’s a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from national and sub-national governments to promote open government, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance.

Four candidates - Canada, Italy, Kenya and the UK - stood for election and voting was concluded on May 25, with 82 per cent of eligible OGP governments participating in the election.

As in previous years, the election was done through a system where voters ranked candidates by preference. 

The top-ranked candidate received four points, which Kenya scored.

The election of Ruto to the Steering Committee of OGP will enable Kenya to showcase its innovative menu of approaches on open governance to the world.

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It is in line with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Executive Order No 2 of 2018 directing all government departments to actively release information on procurement of public works and services to the public.

The DP will provide guidance to the current 13 African countries including Nigeria, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Cote d’lvoire, Tunisia and Morocco at this difficult historical juncture to implement OGP’s global campaign “Open Recovery + Open Response.