The Impact Of Civic Knowledge On Voter Participation In Informal Settlements In Kenya: A Case Study Of Kangemi Division

Abstract

Kenya as a county has had a rich history of non state actors initiatives and activities around civic and voter education since multi-party politics was re-introduced in 1992. This study was motivated by the Constitution of Kenya 2010, Article 10 that deals with national values and principles of governance among them democracy and participation in all public decision making processes. The citizens’ civic knowledge is central to democratic citizenship. The study sought to investigate the relationship between civic knowledge and voter participation of Kenyan citizens. The objectives of the study were; to establish the level of civil / political rights knowledge among informal settlement dwellers in Kenya, to investigate the effect of civic knowledge on voter participation in informal settlements in Kenya and to find out the level of civic competencies among voters in informal settlement in Kenya. The study was theoretically framed by the rational choice theory and social capital theory. A quantitative approach research technique was adopted for this study using a survey to investigate the relationship between civic knowledge and voter participation. The study population included all registered voters from Kangemi Division an urban area in Westlands Sub County of Nairobi City County. The study had a sample size of 144 voters. The study findings revealed that voters have a moderate knowledge of civil and political rights. Additionally, the study indicated that majority of the respondents had moderate levels of civic competencies while the remaining respondents had low level of civic competencies and high level of civic competencies respectively. The study also indicated that only civic knowledge, civic skills and civic action influenced voter participation (p<0.05) while civic attitude had no influence on voter participation (p>0.05). The study recommendations were: that the government at National and County levels, donor community and non state actors involved in promoting good citizenry need to invest more in civic education initiatives; that there is need for more focus to be placed on improving civic competencies of the voters; that civic knowledge for increased voter participation need to be targeted at younger adults as their formation around political socialization is manifested during early years and also they are the majority of the population of Kenya and lastly, that the civic knowledge content is an important intervening variable in increasing the political participation and therefore needs to be standardized. Thus the study recommends for increased civic education as a way to enhance voter participation in Kenya. Further, , the study confirms that there is a statistical significance in the relationship between civic knowledge and voter participation. The study concludes that civic knowledge positively influences voter participation.