Deputy President William Ruto Elected To Represent Africa In Global Governance.

The deputy president of Kenya has been elected to represent Africa in a global governance body for the next three years.

He will serve in the steering committee of the Open Government Partnership, a platform that brings together government leaders and civil society.

The organization was founded by the former United States president, Barack Obama in 2011. It is based in Washington.

The main role of the organization is to promote accountable, responsive and inclusive governance through civic participation, access to public information and leveraging on technology and innovation.

The steering committee, whose main role is to develop, promote and safeguard the values, principles and interests of OGP, consists of 22 members – 11 from government and 11 from civil society.

The committee is also mandated with the role of establishing the core ideas, policies, and rules of the partnership, and oversees its functioning.

Kenya, Canada, Italy and UK were competing for positions in the steering committee with 82% of governments participating in the election which ended on 25th May.

Elections are done done through a system where voters rank candidates by preference. The top-ranked candidate receive four points, which Kenya scored.

We are pleased to announce that the governments of Canada, Italy and Kenya have been elected by their peers to three-year terms on the OGP Steering Committee beginning on October 1,
read the OGP website.

The organization has 78 countries, over 20 local governments and thousands of civil society organizations.

The Deputy President will provide guidance to the current 13 African countries including Nigeria, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Cote d’lvoire, Tunisia and Morocco to implement OGP’s global campaign “Open Recovery + Open Response.”