All public entities, including county governments, must make all budget documents available and accessible to the public by law. The Constitution of Kenya (2010), County Governments Act (2012), Public Finance Management Act (2012) and Access to Information Act (2016) – all touch on the issues of public access to information held by government agencies.
The general overview on access to information in Busia County is limited but improving. For instance, the International Budget Partnership Kenya’s County Budget Transparency Survey 2021, which evaluates the level of information published by counties, shows that the transparency index for Busia County stands at 37 out of 100 points, improving from 11 out of 100 in 2020.
This study sought the level of information counties provided concerning National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) and targeted the Linda Mama programme. The study utilized qualitative and quantitative research methods from both secondary and primary sources. The data used in this study came from the budget documents that, by law, Busia County is required to make publicly available on their official websites. Where the budget documents were not publicly available on the official websites for Busia County, our study conducted the access to information to find the missing information to the relevant county government officials. Further, the study utilized the key informant interviews at the county offices and the selected health facilities to find information on the revenue, expenditure on NHIF in Busia County and more details on the Linda Mama programme. The four selected health providers include Malaba Dispensary, Matayos Health Centre, Teso North Sub-County and Busia County Referral Hospital. In addition, we interviewed the County health M&E Coordinator, the County Director of Curative Health Services, the County Director Budgets and the UHC County coordinator.