The impact of decentralized governance on service delivery in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya
Asuma Mariita Nchaga and Zacharia Ayienda Nyaega
Department of public administration Kampala international university Western campus Uganda
*Corresponding author. E-mail:mariita.asuma@kiu.ac.ug
ABSTRACT
The difficulty with service delivery remains a hard task to resolve among devolved governments. Implementation of devolution has resulted in mixed outcomes. While in some regions it is tipped as a model for improving service delivery, in other areas it has failed to deliver its mandated functions. Inadequately distributed resources, un-prioritised services, poor health and education and housing and roads among others are major problems affecting both urban and rural counties alike. Devolution as a system of governance was introduced after the promulgation of the new constitution in 2010 to respond to the public demand for an efficient and effective public sector. However, 10 years after this move, the efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery has continued to face many bottlenecks at the resource distribution, citizen participation accountability and transparency and service delivery as identified in the literature review. This article aimed at analyzing the effect of devolution system of governance on service delivery in Uasin Gishu County in Kenya. Various theories were explored linked to the various variables considered under the study. These are: The Soufflé theory, The social capital theory, The principal Agent theory and lastly the Accountability theory. Eventually the soufflé theory was selected as being more responsive to the study’s variables as it gives the best explanation on linkages between various variables of devolved system of governance and how they are related to the outcomes, that is, service delivery. The conceptual framework outlines the independent variables, as resource distribution, citizen participation accountability and transparency while the dependent variable is service delivery. Study took a quantitative approach that emphasizes objective measurements and statistical, numerical analysis of data. The study adopted a descriptive and correlation research designs to facilitate determination and explanation of variable relationships and used a simple random sample of 154 respondents obtained from a target population of 3,125 employees of Uasin Gishu County. The sampling frame consisted of county executive members and employees, member of county assembly office staff, county assembly service board members, county governor officers and county government staff. Regression analysis, multiple regression and correlation were run to determine the relationship between resource distribution, citizen participation accountability and transparency and service delivery following a multivariate regression model. It was established that devolved system of governance and all its three components were satisfactory predictors of service delivery having significantly strong effects. The study concludes that devolution devolved system of governance (R-square of 0.482; p value <0.05) has effect on service delivery and can be a crucial model of improving public service delivery in Kenya. The article recommended that devolved system of governance can be effective model for improving service delivery.
Keywords: Impact, governance, service delivery, Uasin Gishu County and Kenya
INTRODUCTION
This article focused on the effects of devolution system of governance on service delivery in Uasin Gishu County in Kenya. The article investigated on activities within the scope of the issues addressed by the objectives of the article, hence ensuring the article findings contribute towards realization of the main aim of the article. The article reviewed related prior literature of the study. The article further was framed by five research questions which were tested by research findings and scientifically analyzed. The article targeted Uasin Gishu County in Kenya. The interest of this article was on the impact of devolution on access to healthcare services in Kenya. This contributes to the wider literature on public service delivery decentralization which to date remains largely debatable. This article will be beneficial to several stakeholders including the national government of Kenya, the county government of Uasin Gishu and all the other devolved governments, the society, scholars and researchers. The study will inform national government of effective and efficient policy formed suitable for the devolution system that would lead to realization of optimum service delivery in county governments in Kenya. The county governments are expected to play critical functions in improving service delivery to the people. This article might informs the county assemblies and county executive on the areas within which devolution of fiscal power, political power and administrative power can improve service delivery to the people as was expected by the Kenyan citizens when reviewing the constitution.The members of county assembly may use the findings of this article to better align or revise the existing county legal framework, to promote service delivery in the counties. This article finally established policy recommendations, which can be used by county assemblies and county executives to improve service delivery in county governments. The local population may also benefit from this article by explaining the link between devolution and service delivery. The roles of the local population in enhancing improved service delivery to themselves and sustainability of such services.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Has devolved system improved public service delivery by the County and Government of Uasin Gishu? Has devolution increased public participation, empowerment and quality of service delivery by the County Government of Uasin Gishu?
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Most studies dwelt on single function or variable which cannot be taken to represent the whole performance measurement of devolved system functions. There is still a gap in knowledge that has to be filled in view of the service delivery in Kenya based on the decentralized operations. This article endeavored to explore this subject; in particular the way county Uasin Gishu County government in Kenya has performed of the decentralized functions. Despite the many studies on impact of decentralization on service delivery, very few have studied Sub-Saharan contexts and especially Kenya which recently promulgated a unique form of decentralization, and that is celebrating 10 years since its implementation. Devolution has been argued to improve service delivery in some countries and worsen it in others. The main aim of this article was to find out if devolution system has improved the provision of public services in Kenya.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The findings established that resource distribution had a strong positive relationship with 61.94% explaining service delivery (R2=0.6194). There was a positive relationship between resource distribution and service delivery (β =0.240). The relationship was also significant at 5% level of significance (P-value=0.000). This finding implied that an improvement in resource distribution by one unit led to a 0.240- unit improvement in service delivery. It was also revealed that a positive relationship between citizen participation and service delivery (β =0.370). The relationship was also significant at 5% level of significance (P-value=0.000). This finding implied that an improvement in citizen participation by one unit led to a 0.370- unit improvement in service delivery. The results revealed a positive relationship between accountability and transparency and service delivery (β =0.203).The relationship was also significant at 5% level of significance (P-value=0.000). The results provided sufficient statistically significant evidence to signify the relationship. The study concludes that devolution devolved system of governance has effect on service delivery and can be a crucial model of improving public service delivery in Kenya.It establishes the effect of resource distribution, citizen participation and accountability and transparency on service delivery. The study confirms the theoretical claims that devolved system of governance exists to achieve the goal of enhanced service delivery.
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