The Role Of Public Participation In Enhancing Budget Making Process: The Case Of Laikipia County

Abstract

The study had set out to asses the role of public participation in budget making process at the county Government of Laikipia. Public participation has faced various challenges in that there was a gap in the information flow from top to down, there is no adequate involvement and consultation of the people, and as a result the communities are not empowered, which forms the goal of the whole process. Challenges have still been experienced at the sub counties in that information is put in the dailies and not all people can access the papers, venues for the meetings are most of the time not convenient and the duration of holding the meetings is not adequate as it is held once in a year. The study had the following objectives: how information sharing affects the budget making process, the role of consultation in the budget making process, how the extent of involvement affect the budget making process, and the role of empowerment of the people in the budget making process. Primary data was collected using observation and questionnaires that were administered to members of public, community leaders and officials from the department of Finance and County administration. The researcher conducted convenience sampling where by the study area was divided into four strata. The sample size was 68 respondents from a population of 290. Descriptive statistics was used to interpret the qualitative data using percentages and frequency tables. The Statistical Package for Social Science was used as an aid in data analysis. The study found out that many residents, as indicated by the interviewed respondents partially attend participatory meetings and serve at different committees at the various levels. Various government officers, especially ward administrators, are being consulted continuously on the budget making process. The study concluded that public participation plays a key role in budget making process across the four wards in Laikipia County. The study recommended that; appropriate information sharing modes to be utilized, appropriate mechanisms to be employed to ensure that adequate consultations are made, proper processes be put in place in order to augment public involvement, and to put in place adequate measures in order to empower the public so that they can play a role in the budget making process.