Influence of public participation on implementation of Kaprobu dam project, Moiben sub-county, Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

Abstract

Public participation is a method of engagement in governance. People engage together for discussion and joint action within various interests, organisations, and systems, developing a civic uniqueness and including constituents in governance processes. In 2013, The Constitution of Kenya 2010 was implemented, and Article 174 highlights public participation as a crucial process in ensuring citizens' views are considered during project implementation. However, since the implementation of the constitution, public participation have been conducted on various projects, but there have been public complaints that their views are not being considered. Therefore, it created a need to investigate whether public participation influenced the implementation of projects, particularly the Kaprobu Dam project. The following objectives guided the study: influence of public participation on; legislative, budgetary and tendering processes. The study used concurrent mixed methods research design (QUANT + qual). Quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics (percentages and frequencies) and inferential statistics (simple linear regression, multiple linear regression & Pearson correlation coefficient), while qualitative data were analysed using content analysis. The hypothesis was tested at the α=0.05 level of significance. The regression model for public participation and; legislative process, Budgetary process, Tendering process and implementation of projects in Moiben Sub-County are given as Y=2.432+.463, Y=4.252+.107, Y=4.287+.085, and Y=3.559+.258, respectively. The study findings imply that there is a significant relationship between public participation and; legislative process, budgetary process, tendering process and implementation of projects. This also implies that public participation policy is working Moiben sub-county though implementation of citizens views needs improvement. The findings from this study inform the County Government of Uasin Gishu of the need to increase the uptake of public views given during public participation as an excellent measure to meet constituents' desires and uphold public participation policy. The study recommends that the county governments continue conducting public participation meetings to capture the people's desired way of running projects. The county governments should also not hesitate to distribute and use resources that the public has budgeted for various projects to ensure the completion of projects. This will help in solving actual citizens' challenges.