A Comparative Evaluation Of The Implementation Of Public Participation Guidelines In Kenyan County Governments

ABSTRACT

Little data showed the comparison and contrast of the various approaches of implementing public participation guidelines and the significance of their implementation in the success of key governmental processes. This research sought to evaluate the extent to which three different Kenyan county governments have implemented county public participation guidelines. This was done through determining the extent to which planning and financing of public participation affects implementation of public participation, exploring the mechanisms available for managing and coordinating public participation, establishing the influence of the public and county officials in implementing public participation in the county governments, determining how community awareness and access to public information influence feedback mechanisms for public participation and evaluating the different processes of outreach and mobilization for public participation. This study analysed secondary data collected from sampled County Governments and reviewed the data as provided for under the Constitution of Kenya by examining the principles of public participation, guidelines from the Ministry of Devolution and Planning, compared them with County Governments Public Participation Acts, and the actual budgets with a focus on funds allocated to public participation. This was in a bid to investigate county government efforts in enacting laws for public participation, setting public participation offices, developing and implementing a model for citizen engagement. Findings from the three county governments under this study showed that there exist problems such as approaches used, negative attitude from citizens, and the administration procedures despite realizing many achievements in the public participation processes. Inclusionary and exclusionary issues in the participation processes do exist unintentionally, but were attributable to limitations in budget, improper approaches used and lack of awareness amongst citizens and the stakeholders.