Determinants of Public Participation in Budget Making Process in Devolved Governments in Kenya: A Case of Trans Nzoia County

Abstract

Participatory budgeting has been supported in the legislative framework in Kenya, however, the process faces challenges characterized by low participation rates. This study therefore interrogated the influence of citizen’s perceptions, information availability and citizen’s knowledge on public participation in budget making process in Trans Nzoia County, Kenya. A descriptive survey design was adopted and the target population was the 5 Sub County Administrators, 25 members of the county assembly, 25 Ward Administrators, 9 County executive committee members and 227762 adult citizens of Kiminini Sub-county. In this study, multistage sampling was adopted where while the citizens were sampled through simple random sampling method, the other category was conveniently sampled. Through Fisher formula, a sample size of 448 was determined. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to obtain both qualitative and quantitative data from the citizens because there was a need to capture in-depth information on the subject matter. The qualitative data was analyzed through qualitative analysis methods and presented in a narrative form. On the other hand, the quantitative data was analyzed through descriptive as well as inferential statistics and presented in form of tables and figures. A binary logit regression model was suitable to establish the relationship between the study variables. The study findings indicated that there is a low public awareness regarding Public Participation in the county in the tune of 29%. It was also established that the level of public participation in budget making process in the county was low at 7%. Additionally, the study established that majority of the citizens have a negative attitude towards participatory budgeting arguing that it was not adding any value to the development of the county. An improvement in the level of Citizen’s positive Perception can increase the chances of participating in the budget making process significantly. It was also established that the county government was not open in availing information regarding participatory budgeting and that access to reliable and relevant information was only achievable to a moderate extent. However, an improvement in information availability can increase the chances of participating in the budget making process significant. The findings further showed that more than two thirds of the citizens are not informed about participatory budgeting implying low awareness and knowledge on the same. Additionally, an improvement in the level of Citizen’s knowledge can increase the chances of participating in the budget making process significant. The study recommends the county government to run campaigns and create awareness in order to reverse the negative attitude and public relations they face from the citizens. There is also a need to show political goodwill in implementing some of the relevant suggestions from citizen’s contributions. The county government should also avail relevant information to the citizens beforehand. This can be done through road shows, print media, local Community Based Organizations, Non-governmental organizations, Chief’s Barazas, local radio stations and televisions. Programmes can be established to sensitize citizens about public budgeting procedures, public participation requirements, public financial management practices as well as social audit of the public sector in order to encourage boost their confidence to contribute on such matters.