Full Text Available
Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.
Budget and policy planning in devolved Kenya: a case study of citizen participation in Nairobi county
The new Constitution of Kenya has devolved a significant portion of public finances, powers and responsibilities to a new sub national level of government. Kenya now has 47 Counties, each with a County assembly, an elected Governor and an administration in charge of managing public resources and pro...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Department of Political Studies
2019
|
| Subjects: | |
| Tags: |
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1867613217588510720 |
|---|---|
| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Mukorombindo, Yeukai Chido |
| author2 | Naidoo, Vinothan |
| author_browse | Mukorombindo, Yeukai Chido Naidoo, Vinothan |
| author_facet | Naidoo, Vinothan Mukorombindo, Yeukai Chido |
| author_sort | Mukorombindo, Yeukai Chido |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | The new Constitution of Kenya has devolved a significant portion of public finances, powers and responsibilities to a new sub national level of government. Kenya now has 47 Counties, each with a County assembly, an elected Governor and an administration in charge of managing public resources and providing social services. Kenyan legal frameworks such as the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act and the County Government Act (CGA) as well as specific County government participation legislation obligate County governments to facilitate and promote citizen participation in the development of County plans, budgets and policies. This thesis shall show that despite legislative efforts furthering devolution and citizen participation, the law is not always implemented and does not always function well in some instances. There appears to be little improvement in overcoming challenges faced in citizen participation of previous decentralised funds through the Local Authority Service Delivery Action Plan (LASDAP). Elite capture, resource and capacity constraints, poor bureaucratic coordination, communication as well as a limited understanding by both local officials and citizens regarding the new roles and mechanisms for participation have not resulted in simplistic 'magic bullet’ reforms. This is further compounded by a lack of information, feedback on citizen inputs and poor implementation of public participation meetings and service delivery projects. A serious limitation in terms of access, meaningfulness and inclusiveness has resulted in citizens not making use of or taking up participation opportunities. Citizens are thus opting for alternative and more effective strategies of engaging and influencing local government processes. The thesis will also show that although legislation acknowledges and provides a role for civil society to partner with government in jointly facilitating effective citizen participation in public policy; the partnership between local government and civil society does not automatically translate into effective partnerships because of poor civic capacity, unequal power dynamics, and unclear and insufficient guidelines with regards to representation. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/29777 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:32:38.580Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publishDateRange | 2019 |
| publishDateSort | 2019 |
| publisher | Department of Political Studies |
| publisherStr | Department of Political Studies |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/29777 Budget and policy planning in devolved Kenya: a case study of citizen participation in Nairobi county Mukorombindo, Yeukai Chido Naidoo, Vinothan Political Studies The new Constitution of Kenya has devolved a significant portion of public finances, powers and responsibilities to a new sub national level of government. Kenya now has 47 Counties, each with a County assembly, an elected Governor and an administration in charge of managing public resources and providing social services. Kenyan legal frameworks such as the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act and the County Government Act (CGA) as well as specific County government participation legislation obligate County governments to facilitate and promote citizen participation in the development of County plans, budgets and policies. This thesis shall show that despite legislative efforts furthering devolution and citizen participation, the law is not always implemented and does not always function well in some instances. There appears to be little improvement in overcoming challenges faced in citizen participation of previous decentralised funds through the Local Authority Service Delivery Action Plan (LASDAP). Elite capture, resource and capacity constraints, poor bureaucratic coordination, communication as well as a limited understanding by both local officials and citizens regarding the new roles and mechanisms for participation have not resulted in simplistic 'magic bullet’ reforms. This is further compounded by a lack of information, feedback on citizen inputs and poor implementation of public participation meetings and service delivery projects. A serious limitation in terms of access, meaningfulness and inclusiveness has resulted in citizens not making use of or taking up participation opportunities. Citizens are thus opting for alternative and more effective strategies of engaging and influencing local government processes. The thesis will also show that although legislation acknowledges and provides a role for civil society to partner with government in jointly facilitating effective citizen participation in public policy; the partnership between local government and civil society does not automatically translate into effective partnerships because of poor civic capacity, unequal power dynamics, and unclear and insufficient guidelines with regards to representation. 2019-02-22T11:52:22Z 2019-02-22T11:52:22Z 2018 2019-02-19T07:14:16Z Doctoral Thesis Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29777 eng application/pdf Department of Political Studies Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | Political Studies Mukorombindo, Yeukai Chido Budget and policy planning in devolved Kenya: a case study of citizen participation in Nairobi county |
| thesis_degree_str | Doctoral |
| title | Budget and policy planning in devolved Kenya: a case study of citizen participation in Nairobi county |
| title_full | Budget and policy planning in devolved Kenya: a case study of citizen participation in Nairobi county |
| title_fullStr | Budget and policy planning in devolved Kenya: a case study of citizen participation in Nairobi county |
| title_full_unstemmed | Budget and policy planning in devolved Kenya: a case study of citizen participation in Nairobi county |
| title_short | Budget and policy planning in devolved Kenya: a case study of citizen participation in Nairobi county |
| title_sort | budget and policy planning in devolved kenya a case study of citizen participation in nairobi county |
| topic | Political Studies |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/29777 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mukorombindoyeukaichido budgetandpolicyplanningindevolvedkenyaacasestudyofcitizenparticipationinnairobicounty |