Determinants for Implementation of County Funded Healthcare Construction Projects in Machakos County, Kenya

Abstract

The government of Kenya has made exponential services to upscale the health sector in county through devotional seeded projects. However, project implementation in the 47 counties has never been successful at a rate of 55% due to a variety of prevalent barriers such as political influence of construction projects, terrible condition to foster infrastructure, weak technology, decreased citizen involvement and an unavailability of funds, among others.In Machakos County, there are many stalled health facilities construction projects which are stalled depriving the natives the much-needed health care services. The intentions aimed to point outdeterminants for implementation of county funded healthcare construction projects in Machakos County, Kenya. Specifically,objectives of the research were;Firstto evaluate the effect of project funding on the government funded construction implementation projects in Machakos County. Secondly, to determine the effect of procurement procedures on the government funded construction implementation projects in Machakos County. Thirdly, to investigate the effect of community engagement on the government funded construction implementation projects in Machakos County.The project implementation,agency and stakeholder’s theories were applied. Descriptive research was considered and the targets was 39 health projects initiated in 7 Machakos sub-counties.Purposive sampler gave opportunities to collect on the subject matter from participants aided by systematic random selection. The study adopted census whereby the whole target population was considered in data collection. Hence the sample size was 132.Questionnaires and interview schedules were deployed as research instruments. Descriptive and inferential interpreted data and formed inferences. The outcomes revealed amixed array of responses is an indication of mismatch on proper monitoring of stalled projects in the county. The concerns of procurement were evident and critical to project success. Part of the depicted sentiments was on accountability of projects that was dimmed by poor monitoring and evaluation. Community participation or engagement has proven to spearhead success of projects through regular assessments and accountability by contractors. Many projects in local areas that tend to fail are majorly led by segregating the community role. Therefore, the study recommends that proper monitoring and evaluation to be done across all phases of implementation for the Machakos county funded projects. The tendering process should be open to promotes adequate competitiveness of skilled personnel to execute contractual projects in county. All the stakeholder parties should play their roles in the procurement for the project management. Health funded projects should be decentralized to all regions rather being centralized to county management to involve various stakeholders