MALITI: County Reps not educating us on laws they make
It is encouraging to hear our county assembly takes its legislative work seriously.
In a March 26 report in the online edition of NairobiNews some members of the County Assembly are quoted as saying that the Nairobi County Assembly has passed many laws but the Government Press is not printing them quickly enough.
They say the delay in printing the Nairobi County laws is caused by the backlog at the government printer of work from the National Assembly and other legislatures in the country.
To avoid further delays, the reps say the solution is a Nairobi County printing press.
I enjoy reading a printed book more than I do its digital equivalent. The expression cuddling up to a good book comes to mind.
I don’t think one can quite cuddle up to a good tablet or e-reader, irrespective of how many books it can store. So I am all for the printing press.
I think, though, there is a better way to handle the need to have laws printed and available for distribution to the public. The County Assembly’s website is a good alternative.
On it you can find the official record of every debate the assembly has held. So why not extend that to the debated and subsequently passed laws and regulations?
One argument against such a proposal is that a website’s reach is limited because only a minority is connected to the Internet or is close to one. I would agree if this was about the whole of Kenya.
But we are talking about Nairobi only. Not every Nairobian has a smartphone, laptop or desktop computer. But every Nairobian lives near a cyber café.
Whether a law is available in print or digital form, the public needs to be aware it exists. Our MCAs are not doing a good job of educating the public on the laws they pass.
That is where the real hard work is.
tom.maliti@live.com