The Impact of Public Participation on Makueni County’s Development Programs - a Case Study of Ivingoni/nzambani Ward, Kibwezi East Constituency

Abstract

This study examined the impact of public participation on the development programs of Makueni County government. The general objective of this study was to assess the impact of public participation on the development programs of Makueni County government. The central research question was “has public participation affected the implementation of development programs in Makueni County?” This study was guided by a conceptual framework for descriptive research. The study employed both stratified and purposive sampling techniques to obtain respondents’ feedback both as quantitative and qualitative data respectively. Descriptive measures of central tendency were then employed to analyse quantitative data whilst content analysis was used to analyse qualitative data. The study revealed that due to inadequate publicity of public participation opportunities, constituents did not fully embrace it, prioritisation of development programs has involved the public on lower levels but has ceded ground to technocrats on higher levels, and that none of the sampled respondents participated in project evaluation of development programs. The study recommended that the Makueni County government should publicise more the available public participation forums, amend the structure of the development program cycle to involve the public in the steps to project prioritisation, and roll out on a wider scale civic education and training on project monitoring and evaluation.