4.0 SOCIAL CAPITAL AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS

4.1 Participatory Development

The Democratic Party of Kenya believes that the Government draws its authority and legitimacy from the people and leaders are servants of the people. The Party will ensure that there is participatory management of the affairs of the Country from the grassroots level. Leaders must be answerable to the communities who are their masters. The citizens will be responsible for the community development agenda of their constituencies and locations. In this regard Government will expect the people to have reasonable tolerance, actively participate in implementing, monitoring and evaluating Government policies, be well informed, and support the State.

There are constraints that currently hinder the full participation of communities in implementing, participating, monitoring and evaluation of projects in their areas. These include: lack of knowledge of citizen rights; poor communication between the leaders and the communities; lack of forums for formulation of policies and marketing of the same. Corruption in the institutions of governance; lack of political empowerment at the community level; lack of adequate, accurate and timely planning information; lack of ownership, control and consensus in development process; lack of trust, co-operation and commitment by leadership. The Democratic Party of Kenya proposes the following measures to enhance the citizenry participatory management of affairs and development:

1. Educate the communities on their rights to participate in development;

2. Establish forums at the ward/location levels in which developmental agenda is discussed;

3. Ensure that Parliament controls its calendar;

4. Ensure that there are monitoring mechanisms at all levels of Government management;

5. Sensitize the citizens on the need to support the State;

6. Encourage conventional political participation by encouraging the citizens to express their opinions freely;

7. Conduct elections for chiefs and their assistants;

8. Ensure that mayors, deputy mayors, chairmen and vice-chairmen of the local authorities are elected directly by the people.