Organizing Democracy
Democracy needs a feedback loop.
Ours does not have one.
Waste happens when citizens cannot take part, and when leaders have no system that records what they did. Toguna closes that gap. You see what is being built where you live and who answers for it. Your leaders get somewhere to show what they actually delivered.
Free Android app · Every ward in Kenya · The leaders in it are samples for now
Why the waste happens
Ask five neighbours who is responsible for the road outside the gate, and you will get five different answers. Every one of them sounds right.
So the complaint goes to whoever is nearest, and nothing moves. Meanwhile a leader who did do the work has nowhere to prove it — the record sits in budget papers nobody reads. These look like two problems. They are one: nothing connects the two sides.
The loop
Two halves of the same thing
An organized democracy is not one where people shout louder. It is one where a question reaches the person who can answer it, and the answer comes back on the record.
See what is being built near you, what it cost, and who has to answer for it. Then put the question where it actually lands.
What you can do Their half Answer on the recordSomewhere to show the work — the budget, how far it got, and a written answer that stays attached to your name.
What you getYour half
Taking part should not be this hard
Most people never take part because they cannot see what is happening, and would not know who to ask if they could. Toguna removes both excuses. Pick your ward, or let the app find it, and the work going on around you is simply there.
- Every project in your ward, with its budget and what has been spent so far
- Report something that is broken, and back a neighbour's report so it carries weight
- Read what a leader promised, and whether anything came of it
- Put the question to the office that is actually responsible, not the nearest one
- Follow a petition and read the official reply, word for word
- Your phone number and your ID stay private, always
Their half
Accountability is a system, not a speech
If you hold office, or you are running for one, there is no system that records what you did. So the good and the bad are both rumour. Toguna gives the work a permanent place, under your name, where the people in your ward can see it.
- Publish your manifesto, and link each promise to the project that delivers it
- Log a project with its budget, what has been spent, and the stage it has reached
- Answer a petition in writing, and have your answer stay there under your name
- You are measured on your own job only — a Senator's job is watching how county money is spent, so a Senator gets a watchlist, never a building score
- Claim your office once. It is checked by a person before it goes live
What makes it close
The money says who answers
A loop that reaches the wrong person is not a loop. So nobody types in who is responsible — it follows from which fund paid for the work.
One turn of the loop
From where you stand to who answers for it
Why this exists
I believe we need to organize our democracy. Most waste happens when citizens don't participate and when politicians don't have accountability systems. For democracy to work, there needs to be a feedback loop where there is coordination between the citizens and their representatives.
Thaiya Waronja
Lead product designer and developer