Challenges faced by Garissa County in the implementation of development strategies

Abstract

This study sought to establish the challenges faced by Garissa County in the implementation of development strategies. It also intended to identify' the possible remedial measures that could be put in place to address these challenges. These were the objectives of the study. Studies abound on the challenges of implementing strategy but most of these draw from the developed world or from other counties that share very few similarities with Garissa County. Garissa County has developed its own county development plans just like other counties. The implementation of this strategic plan is the responsibility of both National and county governments. Once again this arises from the fact the national government has the experience and resources to oversee matters to do with security. The nongovernmental agencies because of their specialized knowledge have been encouraged to deal with issues touching on maternal and child mortality. In driving this agenda the national government especially strongly to provide such faculties as healthcare workers and vehicles. It has however not been noticeably implemented. Quite a number appeared disillusioned with what a mission statement is all about with some actually confusing the mission statement with the codes of office. Even after the researcher explained what the mission statement was all about the responses were still that they were not aware of any document to that effect in Garissa County. Clearly then in order for strategy implementation to be smoothed, the national and county governments have to address the key challenges because inevitably there is a link between the availability of security and willingness to invest. Insecurity for both human and more human resources is a disincentive to investment Since the county model of government is relatively new in Kenya, not much has been studied on them Literature concludes that there is correlation between challenges to be faced in the implementation of strategy and the resources available to the implementing authority. Data was analyzed by use of content analysis since the data was collected from only one county which made it a case study. The findings are that for Garissa County the challenges in the implementation of strategy are political interference, poor infrastructure and very unfriendly climate. The author recommends the gradual cessation of political interference and upgrading of infrastructure.