Demanding the Right to Know: Bungoma CSOs Push for Access to Information

Although Bungoma County enacted the Access to Information Policy in April 2025, the County Government has remained largely unresponsive to public requests for information. This troubling gap between policy and practice has prompted local civil society organizations (CSOs) to unite in a powerful advocacy campaign under the #HakiNiYetu Project.

Voice of Bungoma CSOs Network recently held a strategic planning meeting with the CSO Network Team to co-create an Access to Information (ATI) campaign. The campaign aims to break the barriers that hinder citizens from accessing essential public data needed to ensure government transparency, accountability, and effective service delivery.

Despite the existence of the Access to Information Act at the national level and the new county-level policy, residents of Bungoma still face denial of information on budgets, development projects, and public procurement. Such obstacles make it difficult for citizens and civic actors to perform oversight roles and hold leaders accountable.

This advocacy initiative—anchored in the Constitution and supported through the #HakiNiYetu Project’s capacity-building efforts—will empower grassroots CSOs to:

• Educate citizens on their constitutional right to information
• Demand timely and complete access to public records
• Push for operationalization and enforcement of the Access to Information Policy
• Engage county officials in public forums and policy dialogues

Voice of Bungoma CSOs Network calls on the County Government of Bungoma to honor its legal obligations and open its records to the public. Without access to information, transparency becomes rhetoric, and democracy is weakened.

As citizens, we have the right to know. And with unity and persistence, we will make that right a reality.

#HakiNiYetu #RightToKnow #OpenGovernance #AccessToInformation