Devolution and citizen participation: a study of selected CDF projects in Nakuru town constituency

Abstract

Kenya has for a long time embraced different strategies of exercising development. After a long time of centralized development administration, devolution was embraced. At the heart of devolution is the control of resources by local communities with the patronage of a representative that they feel they can have access to. The Constituency Development Fund (CDF) was institutionalized in 2003 after a new administration came to power. Although this programme has been lauded as a success, it requires that people participate for it to achieve its objectives. This paper investigated factors that contribute to differing citizen participation levels in CDF projects in Nakuru Town Constituency. The specific research objectives were to establish the level of citizen participation in CDF projects in the study area; to establish how citizens participate in CDF projects in the study area; and to establish how local institutions enhance citizen participation in Nakuru town constituency. The study was conducted in Nakuru town constituency, identified because of its unique features including its high population and its political history of changing Members of Parliament (MP) who are the patrons of the CDF fund. The research design used was structured interviews with primary respondents, key informant interviews with CDF project officials, desk reviews for ascertaining data, as well as direct observation methods. The study used a sampling frame that identified projects with similar characteristics. These were listed to allow for sampling. Purposive sampling was used to identify respondents for the Key Informant Interviews. Random sampling was used to identify primary respondents. The data collection tools used included questionnaires, unstructured interviews and literature review. In analyzing the field data, descriptive and inferential statistics were used. Analysis of qualitative information complimented the quantitative data. The study found that there were low citizen participation levels. Participation levels were highly affected by the demographic characteristics of sex, age, marital status as well as education levels. Citizen participation also differed based on the different stages of the project cycle. Most of the people participated in the feedback after the project while the least contributed at the inception stages. Local institutions of the CDF, namely the CDFC and the Project Management Committee, are very instrumental in people participation. However, they have not done enough to encourage citizen participation despite the fact that people feel they have the potential to encourage them to participate. The study concluded that citizen participation has been low. This includes low contributions of time, money, labour, ideas at both the different levels of the project cycle as well as in different projects. Finally, CDF institutions were equally noted not to enhance people’s participation. The study recommends well thought out structures to encourage citizen participation as well as alternative patronage of the CDF in order to alienate local development from the present perception of the fund being a token for citizen’s who work well with the Member of Parliament. A further scope for research was identified in establishing factors that can create sustainability of local development projects.