Corporate Governance Practices and Performance of Independent Constitutional Commissions in Nairobi City County, Kenya
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Date
2025-06
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Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
The major responsibilities of constitutional commissions are to protect the sovereignty of the people and to ensure that all state organs observe democratic values and principles, and to promote constitutionalism. However, majority of these commissions have not achieved their mandate. Sound corporate governance practices are a major contributor to effective and efficient management of state corporations. Since independence, the level of accountability in management of state corporations has continued to decline despite the availability of various monitoring structures like legal frameworks, ethics and integrity, policies and the code of conduct and ethics intended to provide a clear road map to successful performance of the state corporations. The general objective of the study was to find out the influence of corporate governance practices on performance of independent constitutional commissions in Nairobi city county, Kenya. The specific objectives were, to determine the effect of accountability practices, to assess the effect of transparency practices, to analyse the effects of board responsibility and to determine the effect of risk management practices on performance of independent constitutional commissions in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study adopted the following theories, agency theory, stakeholder theory and stewardship theory. The theory used descriptive research design. The target population for this study was the 1426 employees in the fourteen Independent Commissions in Nairobi County, Kenya. To determine the sample size, the Fisher formula was used. The sample study included the 303 employees that made up of non-management staff, lower management staff, middle management staffs, and top management level of the fourteen Independent Commissions. A semi-structured questionnaire was used in collecting primary data from the target respondents. The questionnaire comprises of both open and close ended questions. Both descriptive and inferential analysis were adopted. Descriptive statistics included means and standard deviations while the inferential statistics included multiple regression analyses. The information obtained from data analysis was presented through tables and figures. The findings revealed that there is a strong relationship between the predictors; accountability practices, transparency practices, board responsibility, and risk management practices and the organizational performance of independent constitutional commissions in Nairobi City County, Kenya as indicated by P-value less than 0.05. The study concludes that corporate governance practices significantly influence the performance of Independent Constitutional Commissions in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study recommended that government should prioritize the enhancement of corporate governance frameworks within Independent Constitutional Commissions (ICCs). Given the positive correlation between governance practices and performance, the government should institutionalize clear guidelines on accountability, transparency, and risk management. This could involve establishing dedicated oversight bodies that ensure regular auditing, performance evaluations, and compliance with governance standards across all commissions.
Description
A Research Project Submitted to the School of Law Arts and Social Sciences in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the Masters Degree in Leadership and Governance of Kenyatta University, June 2025.
Supervisor
David Minja