Parliament plans to expand public access to legislative information through existing Digital Hubs.
Parliament plans to use existing Digital Hubs to give citizens access to live debates, Bills and legislative records.
Parliament information centres could soon operate within existing government Digital Hubs, bringing legislative records and proceedings closer to citizens. The planned facilities would provide access to live debates, Bills, Hansard records and committee reports.
ICT and Digital Economy Principal Secretary John Tanui outlined the proposal before the National Assembly Committee on Broadcasting and Library. He said the government would use existing digital infrastructure, avoiding additional construction costs.
Parliament information centres to support public participation
The initiative aims to strengthen civic education while helping citizens take part in the legislative process. It also seeks to decentralise access to parliamentary information through the government’s Digital Hubs.
Tanui said the plan would promote constitutional public participation under Article 118 of the Constitution. He also linked it to the Parliamentary Service Act 2019 and the Parliamentary Service Commission Strategic Plan.
Four categories of hubs could host the facilities: Centres of Excellence, Standard Digital Hubs, Basic Digital Hubs and Customized Hubs. However, Tanui recommended Centres of Excellence because they can accommodate broadcasting terminals, smart interactive boards and video conferencing equipment.
Hub readiness and device distribution
Tanui said most Centres of Excellence had passed the 75 per cent completion mark. He added that full equipping of the centres was expected by January.
Meanwhile, the government was replacing contractors at fewer than five stalled sites because of poor performance. The centres form part of the existing infrastructure that would support the proposed parliamentary facilities.
On equipment, Tanui said 8,000 devices were already in stock, while another 10,000 were in transit. A further 20,000 devices had reached the final procurement stage.
Under the proposed allocation framework, each Centre of Excellence would receive 100 devices. Standard Digital Hubs would get between 20 and 30 devices each, while Customized Hubs would receive 15 each.
