People’s Participation in County Budgeting Process: a Case of Nairobi County

Abstract

The study was aimed at investigating the People‘s Participation in County Budgeting process in Kenyan Counties. With a special focus on Nairobi County. The research was guided by one main objective: to establish the effectiveness of the current legal framework for community participation in Kenyan county governments. The specific objectives were; to examine residents participation in county budget forums and their committees, to assess residents‘ awareness of county government‘s legal framework, governance and development projects, to establish the influence of residents‘ characteristics on their awareness of counties‘ legal framework, governance and development projects and to establish the influence of residents‘ characteristics on participation in county budget forums and committees. Mixed methods research design was used in this study. The target population were residents of Nairobi County as well as ward administrators and senior County officials responsible for planning and budget execution both in the County Government. A sample of 113 participants distributed across the Langata and Westlands Sub Counties were identified through purposive sampling. All the scheduled 113 participants were successfully interviewed without any dropout. The analysis of the collected data was done both qualitatively and quantitatively. Few respondents were aware of forums called by Nairobi County in the last 3 years with even fewer of the respondents aware of the forums participating in them. Of those who had attended the forum; most of the participants had at least a primary education, were self-employed and had stayed in their respective sub counties for more than 6 years. Majority of the respondents heard about the forums through friends/relatives. Majority of the participants were aware of legislation on public participation in planning and budgeting of County projects. Less than half of the respondents who knew about the legislation could not tell how people participated in the planning and budgeting of projects. Chi square tests revealed that there were no association between age, gender and occupation and the awareness of county legal frameworks, governance and projects. There was however an association between the level of education and the awareness of county legal frameworks, governance and projects. Chi square tests revealed that there were no association between age, gender, occupation, level of education and years of residence and the participation in public forums and committees Among the researcher‘s recommendation in view of the findings is that; the County Government should come up and conduct aggressive civic education campaigns about public participation in budgeting and planning processes. This would enable the people get informed on their civic rights and duties and ensure that their priorities are addressed by the County Government.