Publication: An Assessment of The Implementation of Procurement Policy on School Financial Management: A Case of Public Secondary Schools in Eldoret South Constituency, Kenya.
Total Views 1
total viewsTotal Downloads 16
total downloadsDate
2012-08
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Mount Kenya University
Cite this Item
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to assess the implementation of procurement policy on school
financial management. The study objectives were to: identify the knowledge and skills
possessed by procurement committee members in financial management in public secondary
schools in Eldoret South Constituency; find out the levels of awareness of procurement process
among procurement committee members in public secondary schools in Eldoret South
Constituency; investigate procurement practices in public secondary schools in Eldoret South
Constituency and examine the implementation of procurement policy in Public secondary
schools in Eldoret South Constituency.
In this study adapted descriptive survey design which was appropriate as it was deemed to
provide information on samples that were collected and also discovered the occurrences in the
area of study. The researcher targeted 37 secondary schools out of which 11 public secondary
schools and 310 respondents were included in the study. Stratified simple random technique and
purposive sampling were used to select a sample size of 93respondents representing 30% of the
target population. The instruments of data collection were questionnaire and interview schedule.
The purpose of the interview schedules was to solicit for more information from the respondents
and to assist the researcher to cross check biases when analyzing data. The data collected was
analyzed using descriptive statistics and percentages, which gave ways and means of interpreting
data, condense information and presented information in both numerical and graphical terms.
The study was based on the New Public Finance Management Theory by Manning (2001), which
emphasizes the overall ethos for reforms by allowing managers to manage and making managers
accountable. The study found out that committee members have very little knowledge as to what
they are supposed to be doing. The members too do not have relevant training in procurement
nor even financial management as a whole. Further it was evident that the commitment level of
the members was not optimum as some leave this task to engage in farm activities hence have it
as a by the way activity. There is also the aspect of bureaucracy in many operations, unnecessary
delays, malpractices such as corruption and embezzlement of funds as well as lack of appropriate
record keeping. This study concludes that the procurement policy is handled by incompetent
drivers. These drivers are most likely not to deliver to the expected output level. This poses a
danger in terms of the implementation of the procurement policy. To this, the study recommends
a review of the existing committees after which other committees should be reconstituted to suit
the minimal requirements.
Description
Keywords
Educational Planning