Evaluation Of Public Participation During The Budget Making Process: A Case Study Of Nairobi City County

Abstract

The study sought to evaluate public participation in the budget making process in Nairobi City County. The objectives were; to determine the sources of information that influence the level of public awareness during the budget making process, to establish the level of involvement of the citizenry of Nairobi City County during the budget making process and to evaluate the community’s perceptions on Public Participation in the budget making process in Nairobi County. The study adopted the mixed methods approach that combined retrospective quantitative and qualitative design. The study used convenient sampling to come up with a total of 170 respondents from the public participation forums. Data collection involved structured questionnaires, focus group discussions and observation. The study used descriptive statistics to analyse the quantitative data and content analysis for the qualitative data. Findings indicated that the most common source of information used by the county was print media (mostly newspapers).The level of involvement of the citizenry by Nairobi City County during the budget making process was low, with 57% of the respondents indicating a low extent of involvement. Qualitative data established that the public perceives their engagement in the budget making process with a lot of hope and a platform for realization of change they have so wanted. There was optimism in their perception, which is an indication of acceptance and readiness to embrace the process as it offers them a platform to air their needs, control resource wastage, and offer direction on priority services and projects to be initiated. The study recommends that the County Government diversify their sources of information, which will ensure information is shared widely and promptly. It also recommended that county government develop mechanisms that ensure that the public have access to documentation concerning the budget process well in advance in order to effectively contribute to the entire process. The study further recommended the county government should set up an office/department that is charged with handling public participation for purposes of accountability and transparency. The study recommended more research in the area of level of awareness to come up with empirical data. It further recommended that more research be carried out in order to establish a gold standard for measuring effective public participation.