The Formulation and Practice of the Constituency Development Fund in Kenya: a Case Study of People’s Participation in Its Projects in Gatanga and Kitui Central Constituencies
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Date
2016Author
Kariuki, James G
Type
ThesisLanguage
en_USMetadata
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This study focused on one of the key devolved funds, the Constituency
Development Fund (CDF) whose impact and fanfare has elicited increased interest
among scholars and the public. Since its inception in 2003, many community
development projects have been undertaken in the country using CDF. Equally,
many development issues and challenges have emerged on the management and
governance of the fund such as politicization by the incumbents and the aspiring
MPs, questions about its ability to alleviate poverty and allegations that politicians
use it to bring themselves closer to the people for political mileage. Hence, the
overall objective of this study was to interrogate the allocation, disbursement and
management of the CDF and how it has been used to enhance development at the
grassroots level. The specific objectives were: To examine respondents perception
of the needs of the communities and how far they were being met; to examine the
level of awareness of community members about CDF; to find out the accelerators
of CDF implementation; to examine the performance of the CDF projects; and to
examine the impact of CDF on the well-being of communities.
The study was informed by three sociological theories: the social action theory, the
social systems theory and decentralization theory. The social action theory argues
that it is necessary to know the subjective purpose and intent of the actor before an
observer can understand the meaning of social action. This theory helps us
understand how communities perceived CDF and whether communities took action
by demanding proper utilization of CDF monies. The social systems theory argues
that social systems are processes of interaction between actors. The theory explains
what transpires in the interdependent parts of an organization, community or
society. The theory was used to understand the accelerators of CDF and how the
different actors involved in the CDF projects interacted to influence the
performance of CDF projects.
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Decentralization is conceptualized as a process of state reform composed of a set
of public policies that transfer responsibilities, resources or authority from higher
to lower levels of government in the context of a specific type of state.
Decentralization reduces the bureaucratic procedures for implementation of
community development projects making services more responsive to the needs of
the local communities. Decentralization theory was used to study the impacts of
CDF projects on the well-being of the communities.
The conceptual framework in this study demonstrates that various factors are likely
to influence the performance of CDF and hence the well-being of communities.
These include community perceptions of community needs, people’s awareness of
CDF, and the accelerators of CDF implementation which include community
participation, technical support, and CDF design and intervention.
The study was carried out in two selected constituencies in Kenya namely: Gatanga
in Murang’a County and Kitui Central in Kitui County. The study used both
probability and non-probability sampling techniques. The sample size was 604
respondents comprising of 305 project committee members and 299 household
heads interviewed using questionnaires. In addition interview guides were used to
collect data from 38 key informants and 8 focus group discussions. The collected
primary data was coded, entered in a computer and analyzed using the Statistical
Package for Social Sciences (SPSS).
The study found that CDF projects were mostly started to meet the needs of the
people and this was in line with the fund’s objectives. There was high level of
communities’ awareness about CDF and its objectives. However, there were also a
lot of misconceptions about the fund among the project beneficiaries. Community
participation in the projects was not only minimal but was highly politicized and
depended on the leadership provided by the incumbent MPs. Monitoring of CDF
projects, technical support for projects by managers and the training of the
constituents on CDF management were minimal. The CDF targeted small projects
xxi
that did not require heavy capital investments and this led to starting of many small
projects that did not benefit most people in the constituencies. The performance of
the projects was affected by monitoring, budgeting, record keeping, auditing of
projects, payment of allowances to project committee members and corruption.
The study concluded that CDF was a good means of enhancing community
development at the grassroots level if only management of the fund was improved
so that projects were implemented transparently and professionally. However, the
future of CDF was found to be uncertain given the concerns about its
constitutionality.
Arising from these findings several recommendations have been made. In order to
improve CDF performance and increase the impact of CDF on community
livelihoods it is important to conduct community education and awareness
campaigns to enhance Community Participation in CDF projects. Further, CDF
should be depoliticized by reducing the powers of MPs in its management and in
the selection of projects management committee members. Projects committee
members should be democratically constituted through elections by the target
beneficiaries of the CDF projects. In addition, constituencies should build the
capacity of Project Management Committees to manage CDF projects. To enhance
transparency and accountability, procurement of materials and tendering should be
done with the full knowledge and participation of the communities. Finally, the
study recommends that CDF Managers should work with the county governments
for smooth operations of community development programmes and to avoid
duplication of development projects.
Publisher
University of Nairobi
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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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