Local government in Kenya: negative citizen perception and minimal engagement in local government affairs

Local governance has been glorified as a panacea for development because it is embedded in the decentralization debates, policies and programs across the African continent. However, many citizens are dissatisfied with the performance of local governments, and to a large extent are disengaged from local processes put in place to address local development. Since 1999, the Kenya Government has been implementing local government reform programs focusing on rationalization of central-local financial relations, as well as specific measures aimed at restructuring the local government administration system for improved financial management, revenue mobilization and service delivery. This brief analyzes the participation of citizens in the Local Authority Service Development Action Plans based on the findings of the Kenya Afrobarometer survey.

The brief breaks down the key findings as follows:

• Governance and Service Provision by Local Governments - Local governments in Kenya have a mandate to provide and manage services for residents within their jurisdictions
• The majority of the respondents thought the Local Councils were not following democratic procedures
• Ordinary citizens feel helpless in terms of contributing to the improvement of local government
• Councilor Qualifications – most respondents thought their councilors had the constitutional levels of education
• Public election of mayors – A majority of the respondents agreed that mayors should be directly elected
• Trust and corruption among local councilors - most Kenyans do not trust their local councils and would like traditional leaders who they consider less corrupt to sit on the councils.
  

The brief gives the following interpretation of the findings:

• Local governments are not putting into practice procedures relevant for ensuring citizen engagement via transparency about budgets, spending, and programs of work, and by opening their doors to citizen involvement
• Frameworks for engaging citizens are weak and many citizens have not embraced the opportunities that exist
• Local government in Kenya has a participatory framework which brings stakeholders together using the ward-based approach
• Many residents do not attend ward meetings and the suggestions of those who do are not taken into consideration
• Most local governments have not adequately exposed citizens to the LASDAP process – all that the citizens know is that they have identified priorities that have not been adopted by their councils
• Most of the citizens are not proactive, and hardly consult the leadership of local authorities with an aim of influencing and changing the situation.