Practices and Opportunities of Devolved Governances in Kenya; A Case of Garissa County,Kenya.

Abstract

The interest and quest for devolved governance have been yearned by worldwide over the last two decades. Devolved governance was the only panacea against the discretionary use of power by the central government as well as to promote participatory democracy that enables citizens to have an opportunity to communicate with personal preference views and ideas to the elected officials are subsequently rendered accountable for their performance to the electorate. Devolution was often thought to bring resources and services closer to the ordinary citizen so that they can get effective services. An increasing number of countries are decentralizing the administrative, fiscal and political functions of the central government to lower level governments. Though these decentralization efforts are typically politically motivated, they have profound impacts on economies by influencing governance in the public sector including public services. Decentralization has often appeared of devolving significant functions and responsibilities such as education, health, water and sanitation, agriculture and rural feeder roads from the central government to the local governments. The objective of this study was to investigate the practices and opportunities of devolved governances in Kenya the case of Garissa County. The findings of this study can be applied to other forty six counties in the country since they have the similar structure and system of governance. The population of this study constituted the political, technical and civic leadership of Garissa County who were residing the environs of Garissa. Stratified random sampling was employed to select respondents from the categories of sub-counties. Primary and secondary data collection source was fully utilized.