Public Participation in Governance and Legislation: A Case of Murang'a County, Kenya
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Date
2018
Authors
Mwati, Douglas Kanguru
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Direct public participation is an essential component of good governance. Public
engagement has been adopted to mitigate the failures of representation, promote
inc1usivenessand social accountability. There lacks a reasonable threshold on who are
the stakeholders in legislative and policy proposals since the definition of public is allinclusive,
yet the realities of operation cannot allow the involvement of all the 'publics.'
The nature of engagement that qualifies as public participation has not been clearly
defined. The study sought to evaluate the forms of public engagement, assess the
influence of public participation on governance and legislation processes while
establishingthe process challenges. This study was grounded on the Social Choice theory
andthe new public management theory. The concept of a society using analysis and logic
in picking a social choice where opinions, economic interests and social welfare arecombinedto
form a collective decision. There is focus on the premises of the new public
management theory where the public is viewed as a client and the government as a
service provider. The client pursues value for his/ her contribution to the state and
therefore, participates in deciding the public service that is on offer and how to improve
it. The study focused on the place of public participation as a best practice in governance
and as a statutory requirement in Kenya. The adoption of a decentralized governance
framework in Kenya and the legal force bestowed upon public participation guides the
critical appraisal of the public participation practice in a devolved unit. The study
targeted approximately 500,000 residents of Murang'a County who are above the age of
majority. This is a case study in a descriptive design. The sample size of the study was
100 calculated using Slovin's formula. Questionnaires and interview guide were used in
data collection. Murang'a County government employs public meetings, radio, social
media, emails, websites and written memorandum submissions as forms of public
participation. The findings show that public participation positively influences
governance and legislative process in Murang'a County. The main challenges facing
p~blic participation are ineffective publicity; inadequate funds and political interferences.
Th~ study recommends increased public awareness of the available forms of public
participation. and an increased budgetary allocation to enable participation at the ward
levels. The study also recommends further research on other determinants of good
governance and legislative processes in the devolved units.
Description
A Research Project Submitted to the School Of Humanities and Social Sciences in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Public Policy and Administration Kenyatta University