Publication: Assessing the influence of public participation on service delivery in Kenya county governments: a case of Laikipia county
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2024-07
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Mount Kenya University
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Abstract
Following the general elections in March 2013, Kenya implemented devolution.
The major goal was to restore local communities' ability to engage in the
administration of their own affairs while also making government services
accessible to the populace locally. The duty to ensure that citizens participate in
local affairs has been delegated to county governments. As it improves transparency,
accountability, and responsiveness to local community demands, public involvement
is a crucial instrument in the successful, efficient, and economical delivery of
services to residents. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the relationship
between public participation and service delivery in Kenya's Laikipia County. The
study's goals was find the influence of information accessibility on service delivery,
capacity building on service delivery; to determine the influence of efficient
communication channels on service delivery; evaluate the influence of public
contributions on service delivery and to identify the influence of feedback
mechanisms on service delivery in Laikipia County. The stakeholder's theory and
public choice theory based the study's foundation. The study used descriptive
research approach with a population of 570491 Laikipia County inhabitants based
on the estimated population from the 2019 National Census. The sample size was
400 respondents. In order to gather primary data, questionnaires were employed.
Pilot test was carried out Nakuru East Sub- County in Nakuru County to 40
respondents to test validity and reliability. The information gathered from the
surveys was sorted, revised, and coded for analysis. Both quantitative and qualitative
analytic techniques were used in the data analysis. The data was examined with the
aid of the spreadsheet programmes SPSS and Excel, and both descriptive statistics
(distribution tables, percentages) and inferential statistics (regression multiple
models and regression were applied. A moderately positive and statistically
significant association was found (r = 0.523; p < 0.05) between information
accessibility and service delivery, according to the study's findings. Additionally,
capacity building and service delivery were found to have a moderately favorable
and statistically significant link (r = 0.631; p < 0.05), states the study. Effective
communication channels and service delivery also showed a somewhat positive and
statistically significant association (r = 0.434; p < 0.05). In addition, the study found
a statistically significant and moderately positive association (r = 0.645; p < 0.05)
between public contribution and service delivery.The study also concluded that there
was a moderate positive and statistically significant correlation between feedback
mechanism and service delivery (r = 0.605; p < 0.05).These results implied that
information accessibility, capacity building, effective communication channels,
public contribution and feedback mechanism had a positive influence on servicer
delivery in form of allocation efficiency, accessibility of services, accountability,
equity and quality of services in Laikipia county, Kenya. This study recommended
that information accessibility should be enhanced to improve on service delivery.
The study also recommended that more capacity buildings forums should be done to
enhance service delivery. In addition, the study recommended that effective
communication channels should be enhanced to improve service delivery. On
feedback mechanism the study recommends that the county should improve
feedback mechanisms to improve service delivery in Laikipia county Kenya.
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Keywords
General elections, Transparency, Public participation, Information accessibility