Determinants of public participation in the legislative process in Kiambu County, Kenya

Abstract

Despite efforts and existing studies on public participation, these issues under this subject area remain largely inconclusive and inconsistent. This study is an effort to explore the determinants of public participation in the legislative process in Kiambu County. The objective of the study was; to examine how the participatory threshold in the existing legal framework determines public participation in the legislative process in Kiambu County, to establish how access to information determines public participation in the legislative process in Kiambu County, to explore how policy design determines public participation in the legislative process in Kiambu County and to examine how the level of resource allocation determines public participation in the legislative process in Kiambu County. Further, the study was guided by theories including; the theory on Deliberative Democracy; the Participatory Democratic theory by Robert Dahl and Participatory Democratic Theory by Carole Pateman. This study used descriptive research design which involved administering questionnaires to the target respondents and the use of interviews. The study targeted 600 persons drawn from the County Public Participation Unit and residents of Kiambu SubCounty. The study used the Morgan and Krejce table to determine a sample size of 234 respondents. Data collected was analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively where Quantitative data was analyzed descriptively and inferentially and presented through the use of a pie chart, bar graphs and tables. Thematic analysis was utilized to analyze Qualitative data. From the research findings access to information emerged as a critical determinant of public participation while resource allocation exhibited a high correlation to public participation. The legal framework did not have a major impact on public participation while policy design and implementation exhibited little impact on public participation from the public's perspective. The research findings showed that access to information was essential for effective participation in the legislative processes. The research study recommends that it is essential for the County Government to establish more effective communication and feedback channels while disseminating information to the public. The legal, policy design and implementation frameworks need to be enhanced in a manner that guides the county governments’ actions towards being more inclusive of the public in the decision making processes.