The impact of reform programmes on the Local Authorities performance; the case of Nairobi City Council in Kenya

Abstract

The objective of the study was to determine the impact of reform programmes on the Local . Authorities' performance. The meaning of reform programme and the aspect of perfonnance was researched on and studied to provide the sense through which it was to be understood within the context of the study. The literature review highlighted several reform programmes within the LAs and their significant role, including the role of Kenya Local Government Reform Programmes (KLGRP) which was established by an act of parliament in 1996. The study also documented the works of different authors regarding the reform programmes and performance.

The study was a descriptive survey which sought to investigate the impacts of reform programmes on the Local Authorities performance. The survey was limited to staff based at the Nairobi city council and who were understood to play key roles in the implementation of the reform programmes. The researcher used structured questionnaire and interview guides to collect the data. Both primary and secondary data was collected. The study did analysis for the primary data and the secondary data was used to support the findings.

The study revealed that the reform programmes which were being implemented at the time had impacted positively on all the areas relating to the four specific objectives of this study, that is planning and policy reform; governance reform; capacity building reform; and financial · management reform. The study revealed that local authority performance was positively impacted by the reform : programmes; that is, despite the many challenges faced by the city council, there was much improvement on the local authority performance due the local authorities' reform programmes that were being implemented at the time. However the reform had not reached its peak and this called for continued efforts in order to reach the optimal point.