By: N. George
Worth Noting:
- Policy making process is a give and take process which involves argumentations and counter argumentations at times noisy and messy but eventually a point of compromise is reached, a vote is taken where the decision of the majority carries the day.
- There are those who feel that they do not want to engage in such processes for the preservation of their good names by not engaging in arguments forgetting that the outcome of such processes will affect all the constituents and are likely to be in favour of the drafters.
One of the penalties of refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors…….Plato.
A policy is a set of guidelines, ideas or plans on what to do in particular situations so as to attain certain goals.
Policy shapes our behaviours for example the speed we drive our cars, places we visit, quality of food allowed to be sold, number of years to attend basic, secondary or tertiary institutions. Almost everything that we do on daily basis is governed by policies whether written or unwritten with the former being easily enforceable those going contrary to them being subjected to penalties.
There can be either proactive or reactive policies. Proactive policies are intentionally designed to prevent a certain problem or emergency from occurring. In implementing them one is required to commit money and other resources before a certain occurrence. They are preventative in nature rather than curative.
On the other hand we have reactive policies which are created with an aim of responding to an existing issue which requires to be addressed both now and in future.
The way our laws are made and general governance is due to the policies that are in place. Anything that is hurting in the current system could be revised through policies including who to hold which post, duration to hold, the dos and don’ts while in that office and procedures to be carried out during the transition.
A structure regardless of its size is firm if well designed right from its foundation so should our policies be of great impact if they are well established from our day to day encounters with need to improve our lives through promoting all that is positive while at the same time discouraging the destructive issues in life. A well thought framework need to be established that will be easily attained with minimum costs, user friendly, ease in implementation and is addressing the issues at hand.
Policy making process is a give and take process which involves argumentations and counter argumentations at times noisy and messy but eventually a point of compromise is reached, a vote is taken where the decision of the majority carries the day.
There are those who feel that they do not want to engage in such processes for the preservation of their good names by not engaging in arguments forgetting that the outcome of such processes will affect all the constituents and are likely to be in favour of the drafters.
Surprisingly enough some policy makers are like a hen which lays a single egg then makes noise in the whole estate unlike the cow which can produce many litres of milk yet stay calm. You find someone relying on a single historic event and using it aggressively to bargain during a policy formulation until it is included in the new law yet someone else with a wealth of knowledge which could outweigh all the other issues presented keep distance only to complain that the policies formulated are inadequate.
Armed with vast knowledge and there is good moderation of debate you should not fear making presentation for consideration of your input as those with inferior ideas will not stand the test of time when there is a fair judge.
Mary Karau Ngethe