Factors Influencing Service Delivery In County Governments In Kenya; A Study Of County Government Of Kitui

Abstract

The new Kenyan Constitution gave the county a new leeway of governing the country. Devolution was the decision on how the nation should be governed. County governments were created for the purpose of efficiently delivering services to citizens. However, the delivery of services in county governments in Kenya seems to take a divergent direction and not providing the citizens efficient services as expected. This shows that in as much as the national government devolved financial resources, there is scanty and apparent realization of the objectives that were envisioned in county governments. This study aimed at assessing the factors influencing service delivery in County Governments in Kenya with special reference to Kitui County Government. Such an analysis will offer guidance and suggest appropriate solutions to the challenges and potential complexities that county governments experience when delivering services to citizens. The study ought to achieve three specific objectives including to establish how resource mobilization influences service delivery in County Governments in Kenya, to establish how public participation influences service delivery in County Governments in Kenya and to determine how accountability by local leadership influences service delivery in County Governments in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The study’s target population were residents of Matinyani ward in Kitui County. The study used simple random sampling technique to select the sample. The researcher collected primary data using questionnaire. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, by means of measures of central tendency, frequency and percentages aided by statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) while relationship between independent and dependent variables was determined using regression analysis. Data is presented by the use of tables, charts, polygons, and a consortium of graphs. The study findings reveal that Kitui County Government (KCG) fairly allocates financial resources to key community issues. KCG did not hold consultative meetings on development issues, neither did they publicizes such consultative forums through media nor did citizens attend such forums. The study also concludes that KCG leaders are poorly transparent on public resources. They did not hold meetings to explain to mwananchi how County Finances were used, neither did projects initiated by county Government get complete in time nor did KCG publish reports on County Expenditure on projects. Therefore, the study provides evidence that resource mobilization, public participation and accountability influences the level of service delivery in county Governments in Kenya. The study recommends that, KCG to increase the allocation of financial resources to key community concerns in the priority of access to health facilities, accessible roads, access to clean and safe water and access to education and electricity; KCG to observe the government legislation of allocating contracts as required by Public Procurement and Disposals Act 2006; and the government policy of allocating 30% of all procurement to women, youth and people living with disabilities; KCG to abide by the constitution 2010 and County Governments Act 2012 by ensuring that they hold public participation consultative meetings on development issues which should be widely publicized.