Public participation and the fiscal implementation of devolved government in kenya: a case of bomet county

ABSTRACT

Fiscal decentralization and the need to decentralize power to the local community has gained impetus lately due because it is considered as one of the most important forces shaping governance and development today. The resultant public engagement that arises from the fiscal decentralization increases the support of the development projects by the citizens, democratization process of decision making and also enhances official accountability. The objective of the study was to analyse the public participation and fiscal implementation of devolved government in Kenya, in reference to Bomet County. The study adopted a descriptive research design where data was collected through the use of a questionnaire as the main research instrument. Analysis of the data was done using mean, percentages, standard deviation and frequencies. The findings was that majority (75.9%) of the respondents were of the view that there is sufficient involvement of the public in fiscal planning implementation. The popular public participation mode in the county was through County Forums and therefore there is need to widen the forums to the local communities in the county. However, the level of public involvement in monitoring and evaluation was found to be low. This indicates that the fiscal output was of concern to the public and this enabled them to monitor and evaluate fiscal implementation in the county. The study concluded that with an effective citizen participation in fiscal policies at the county, the level of efficiency and democratization process in the county will be improved. Therefore public participation in fiscal matters should be encouraged.