Community perspectives on accountability and transparency in the management of local authority transfer fund in Kenya
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Date
2014Author
Otieno, Jackson O
Rambo, Charles M
Odundo, Paul A
Language
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The Local Authorities Transfer Fund (LATF) is
one of the funds that the Kenyan Government has
decentralized to local authorities to
supplement the financing of service delivery
,
enhance financial
management and
accountability,
as well as reduce debts accumulated by
the
authorities
.
The purpose of
this study was to assess and document community perspectives on accountability and transparency in the
management
of LATF
resources
.
We
sourced primary data from
162
community members, including
opinion leaders and civil servants
.
The study found that
participants were satisfied with community
involvement in the planning and budgeting process (48.8%), enhancing accessibility of external auditor’s
reports (42.0%) and liability management (34.0%)
.
However,
they
expressed dissatisfaction with
indicators such as transparency in the procurement process (58.0%), management of Council assets
(57.4%), publicization of expenditure reports (44.0%), cash flow management (42.0%),
budget execution
discipline (35.2%), accounting system (30.9%) as well as internal control and audit system (30.2%)
.
The
success of LATF largely depends on the
Government’s enforcement of
existing regulations, identifying
gaps
and formulating
additional
controls, as well as taking
public officers and political leaders through the
change process
.
This will provide necessary safeguards against political interference and corruption in
the management of LATF projects
Citation
J. Ongong'a Otieno et al | GJBR ♦ Vol. 8 ♦ No. 4 ♦ 2014Publisher
University of Nairobi