An assessment of the influence of provincial administration reforms on service delivery in central Imenti District, Kenya

Abstract

Governments in Africa have over years focused on the reforms of public service. Past research that had addressed these reforms were overwhelming and that issues that had been ignored before within the political circles like competence, performance and integrity are now the main topics of debates within and across political parties. Other research had noted that despite structural reforms governments were still facing complaints from the public regarding poor service delivery in the Public sector. This study examined the influence of provincial administration reforms on service delivery in Imenti Central District, Kenya. Since the District is divided into three divisions, the study assessed the influence of reforms from the point of the District Commissioner, The divisional district officers, the chiefs and assistance chiefs. The study examined the influence of training, motivation work place conditions and employee relations. A sample of 63 officers was selected for this study; however the study was able to collect 97% of the questionnaires from the respondents. Descriptive survey research design was employed and data collected by use of questionnaires. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze data and interpretation of findings was done by use of frequency tabulations. The findings of the study showed that training, motivation, employee relations and working conditions had an influence on the service delivery among Provincial Administration officers. The study revealed that employee relations had a negative influence on service delivery. The study recommends that the government should provide training especially on dispute resolutions as the study as established that training affects service delivery among provincial administrators. The government should also link remuneration to performance in order to motivate the provincial administrators. The study also recommends better communication channels between juniors and their supervisors as the study has shown that communication is a key component to service delivery.