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Archives of Business Research – Vol. 10, No. 6
Publication Date: June 25, 2022
DOI:10.14738/abr.106.12583. Oribu, W. S (2022). Developing the Index of Governance as a Guide in Reducing Poverty and Inequality for the Achievement of
Sustainable Development in the Respective County Governments in Kenya. Archives of Business Research, 10(6). 208-213.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Developing the Index of Governance as a Guide in Reducing
Poverty and Inequality for the Achievement of Sustainable
Development in the Respective County Governments in Kenya
William Sagini Oribu (PhD)
School of Business and Economics, Mount Kenya University
P.O. Box 342, 01000, Thika, Kenya
ABSTRACT
Governance encompasses all aspects through which power is exercised through the
formal and informal institutions in the management of the available resources in a
community. In order to determine the quality of governance there is need to look at
the impact that the exercise of power will have on the quality of life that citizens
enjoy. In pursued of good governance, supervisory bodies must assess whether the
policies and institutions put in place by the state are appropriate in impacting on
the sustainable development of the citizens. Although there has not been a
quantifiable definition of what good governance, debates on the appropriate role of
the state together with appropriate policies and institutions are carried out by
relying on information that is not based on facts or careful study. The purpose of
this conceptual paper is therefore to look at the available literature on quality
governance in conjunction with the legal and institutional frameworks in Kenya to
determine what may need to be done to improve public service delivery. The
identified key observable aspects of the governance dimensions will then be
recommended for consideration in order to provide an enabling environment for
the achievement of community sustainability. Further this paper suggests the types
of research that will need to be conducted in order to obtain data for use in
constructing the index of governance quality for specific county governments in
Kenya.
Key Words: Governance, Service delivery, Accountability, Economic Development,
Sustainability, Governance Index, Poverty, Inequality
INTRODUCTION
In most of developing countries, the public sector service delivery has traditionally been
inconsistent with citizen preferences. This is because politicians and bureaucrats have been
observed to indulge in rent-seeking activities rather than delivering the service that is
demanded by the citizens. This has led to erosion of public trust in the public sector service
delivery. This situation demands that respective county governments must measures that will
revolutionize government service delivery. The measures should include creating and enabling
environment of institutions, taking into account the interests of specific communities and
coming up with policies in order to determine the net impact of the state of economic
development of the respective communities [(World Bank, 1992 & 1994); (Shah, 1994, 1995,
1998a, & 1998b); (Picciotto, 1995); (Huther, Roberts & Shah, 1997); and (Hansen, 1996)].
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Oribu, W. S (2022). Developing the Index of Governance as a Guide in Reducing Poverty and Inequality for the Achievement of Sustainable
Development in the Respective County Governments in Kenya. Archives of Business Research, 10(6). 208-213.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.106.12583
In Kenya the efforts to improve public service delivery was initiated in 1965 after the
realisation that the state bureaucracy was underperforming (OPM/PSTD, 2010). These
necessitated the need to maximize productivity and improve on the allocation efficiencies. This
initiative was referred to as “New Public Management” (Hope, 2002). As time went by, powerful
forces with influential connections to the apex of power usurped and eroded the powers and
responsibilities of the statutory appointing disciplining and supervisory institutions. By the
1970’s the problem of indiscipline in the bureaucracy was so bad that it posed a challenge in
service delivery (Isahakia, 2010). There were therefore a number of initiatives to try and
improve service delivery. The initiatives included: i) Civil Service Reform Program one (CSRP
I) between 1993 to 1998 which concentrated in five broad policy areas of; civil service re- organization, Staff levels, Pay and Benefits, Personnel management and training, and Financial
and performance management. Ii) Civil Service Reform Program Two (CSRP II) between 1999
to 2002 which focused on rationalization and management of the wage bill, Pay and benefit
reform, Performance improvement initiatives such as result based management and rapid
results initiatives.(iii) in September 2004 the Results Based Management (RBM) was picked as
the major strategy to change the civil service culture [World Bank (2001); OP/PSRDS, (2005)
and Hope (2012)]. The RBM was later revamped in 2007 to Performance Contracting whose
expected outcomes include: i) Improved efficiency in service delivery; ii) Efficiency in resource
allocation; iii) Instilling accountability on all levels of government; iv) Dependency of public
service agencies on local revenues; and v) Creation of a results-oriented management in the
public service (OPM/PCD, 2011).
The Constitution of Kenya (2020) provides for devolution as a key pillar that seeks to bring
governance closer to the people. The County Governments have therefore become centres of
dispersing political power and economic resources to Kenyans at the grassroots. The County
governments were established under: i) the principles of democracy and the separation of
powers; ii) the need to have reliable sources of revenue to enable them govern and deliver
services effectively; and iii) ensuring no more than two-thirds of the members of representative
bodies in each county government are from the same gender.
In view of the above, it is clear that the intentions of devolution were to: i) protect and promote
the interests and rights of minorities and marginalized communities; ii) promote social and
economic development and the provision of proximate, easily accessible services throughout
the Country; iii) ensure equitable sharing of national and local resources throughout the
Country; iv) facilitate the decentralization of State organs, their functions and services, from the
capital; and v) enhance checks and balances and the separation of powers. In order to achieve
the above five objectives, various laws have been enacted by Parliament to create strategies for
the implementation framework and the adoption on which the objectives of devolution can be
realized. Although it was hoped that these will improve governance in the county this has not
been the case.
MEASURING GOVERNANCE QUALITY
The shortcomings that have been noted in governing county governments in Kenya call for am
urgent need to measure governance and development by focusing on key observable aspects
like; i) Citizen voice and exit, ii) Government orientation, iii) Social development, and iv)
economic management (World Bank, 1992). In this regard all county governments should
consider pursuing the most important goals regardless of the community’s wealth. Based on
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the above analysis, this paper recommends the following: i) Political transparency and voice of
all citizens; ii) Efficient and effective public service; iii) Health and wellbeing of citizens; and iv)
favourable environment for sustainable economic growth (Huther & Shah, 1998). In order to
understand the contribution of each of these four important goals a survey will be required in
every community to gather the perspective of the citizens in each of the four goals. The outcome
will need to be combined with other traditional sources of information (i.e. World Bank and
International Monetary Fund) on developing countries in order to ensure that all aspects have
been taken into account. Based on the available data from the traditional sources of information
on developing countries, four types of indexes have been developed in line with above four
major aspects of governance (Huther & Shah, 1998). The indexes and their method of
assessment are: i) Citizen participation assessed through political freedom and political
stability; ii) Government orientation assessed through judicial efficiency and level of
corruption; iii) Social Development assessed through human development, and income
distribution; iv) Economic Management assessed through outward orientation, Central Bank
independence and Inverted Debt-to-GDP ratio.
In Kenya, the Constitution demands that there be citizen participation in all activities that affect
the ways of life of the citizens (Part III of the CGA, 2012). The Constitution also stipulates the
requirements to be met in public service delivery (Part XIII of the CGA, 2012). These provisions
will require that be allowed to rate their government on the specified governance aspects. A
survey will therefore need to be undertaken. However, since each community will have their
specific priorities, citizens should be requested to give specific weights on each of the
governance aspects when compared with the others that may have been specified. The index of
governance quality is therefore a function of the governance aspects that are identified within
a given community. This can be presented as:
G= �!
"! * �#
"# * �$
"$ * �%
"% * ... * �&
"&
Where: G = Index of Governance Quality; X = Specified governance aspect and a = Weight
indicating relative importance of the governance aspect in the assessment.
DEVOLUTION AND QUALITY OF GOVERNANCE
Four aspects of governance quality are stressed when considering the quality of governance in
the devolved units or County Governments in the case of Kenya (Huther & Shah, 1998) these
are; Citizen participation, Public sector orientation, Social development, and macroeconomic
management.
Citizen Participation
Citizen participation is encouraged in order to ensure that the availed public goods are
consistent with the preferences of the citizens and that public sector is accountable in whatever
they undertake on their behalf. The requirements for the success of citizen participation is that
there must be political stability and political freedom to enable citizens raise their concerns
without interference (Huther & Shah, 1998).
The constitution of Kenya has dedicated the whole of chapter four to the “Bill of Rights” with
Part 2 of the same chapter listing the specific rights and fundamental freedoms that can be
exercised by the citizens (GoK, 2010). In addition, section 87 of the County Governments Act
2012 listing the principles of citizen participation in counties.