| dc.description.abstract | The responsibility of ensuring that national development takes place has been largely left to the government
through its systems, organs, policies and officials. Direct government involvement in development is usually
complimented by private initiatives and/or public/private partnerships. The general understanding by governments
is that they have to spur development for the benefit of their citizens. Development policy in Kenya has traditionally
been initiated and eventually implemented by the Central Government. In practice, most of the development
initiatives have suffered from negative characteristics that make development objectives difficult to be achieved as
desired. This paper intends to explore the performance of one development initiative by Kenya, the Constituency
Development Fund, to initiate and intensify general economic development in the entire country. The data used
for this paper was collected from one political constituency in the Republic of Kenya, namely Mathira Constituency
in Central Province. A combination of methods was used to gather information from a variety of sources. The study
found that there have been positive impacts arising out of CDF allocations. For example, land values in most
rural areas have increased after water; electricity and sewerage projects were initiated. Access to and provision
of services and facilities has been enhanced and some difficulties previously encountered, such as travelling
long distances in search of services, have been reduced. However; almost a half of the projects are incomplete,
meaning that there is poor utilization of development funds, and there is little or no community participation in
almost all the phases of implementing CDF projects. The study recommends public awareness campaigns on the
utilization of development funds. It also recommends amendments to the CDF Act of 2003 to ensure democratic
processes in implementing and managing CDF projects. | en |
