CITIZEN AWARENESS, PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND BUDGETARY ALLOCATION IN THE NORTH RIFT ECONOMIC BLOC COUNTIES, KENYA

Abstract

This study set out to examine the influence of citizen awareness on budgetary allocation in the North Rift economic bloc counties and the mediating effect of public participation on the relationship between citizen awareness and budgetary allocation. The research was anchored on Agency theory, Stakeholders theory and Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation theory. The study took on the explanatory study design and targeted 10,690 individuals including elected leaders, county budgetary and planning staff, sub location development committee and county ward administrators. The study utilized a sample size of 320, which was arrived at by use of the Yamane (1967) formula. Multistage sampling technique was used to select the respondents. The eight counties forming the north rift economic bloc were first purposively selected. Purposive sampling was also utilized in selecting the strata which included elected leaders, the county budgetary and planning staff, the Sub-location development committee and County Ward administrators from the 8 counties. The study then used simple random sampling method to choose the members within the strata. The study further purposively sampled an equal proportion of male and female respondents across each stratum for purposes of representability. Reliability of the study items were assessed by determining the item Cronbach alpha coefficients. All items were found to be reliable, recording Cronbach’s alpha coefficients above the 0.7 threshold. This included Citizen awareness (α=0.916); demographic characteristics (α=0.753); behavioral factors (α=0.757); economic factors (α=0.875); public participations in budgetary allocation (α=0.775); and budget allocation (α=0.766). A questionnaire was used to collect data. The study found that citizen awareness (β = .884, p = .000<.05) had a significant effect on budgetary allocation. Public participation was also found to significantly mediate the association between citizen awareness (β=.4075, LL=.3530, UL=.4651) and budgetary allocation. It is concluded that citizen awareness is an important factor in enhancing budgetary allocation, hence the need to enhance public awareness. It is also concluded that the association between citizen awareness and budgetary allocation is hinged on citizen participation. It is recommended that county governments carry out sensitization campaigns to enhance citizen awareness of the whole budget process; and adopt participatory budgeting to increase the range of citizen participation.