Challenges Of Implementing Devolved Budget in Public Institutions in Kenya (A Case of Selected Counties)

Abstract

The purpose of budgeting is that it gives management an idea of how well an organization is meeting their income goals, whether or not expenses are in line with predicted levels, and how well controls are working. The implementation procedures in Kenya have been a long-standing debate in the field of development administration. The study sought to establish the challenges affecting the implementation of devolved budget system in the Kenya with reference to County governments. The study was guided by the following objectives; to find out how employee competence, financial planning, political interference and public participation affect the implementation of devolved budget system in County. The study used a descriptive research design. A total of 309 management staff in the county government formed the possible respondents of this study. For this study, a sample size of 171 respondents wastaken using stratified random sampling. Both primary and secondary data was collected. The returned questionnaires were checked for consistency, cleaned, and then analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) computer software and then presented through percentages, means, standard deviations and frequencies. The study also used multiple regressions analysis to analyze the collected data to measure the effects of various challenges and the implementation of devolved budget. The study found that public participation, employee competence, political interference and financial planning influence the implementation of devolved budget in the County governments to a great extent. The study concludes that financial planning had the greatest effect on the implementation of devolved budget in public institutions in Kenya, followed by public participation. However, employee competence had a negative and insignificant effect on the implementation of devolved budget in public institutions in Kenya whereas political interference did not have a significant effect on budget implementation. The study recommends that in the implementation of budgets, public participation, financial planning during budget preparation and employee competence are the most important factors for the success of budget implementation.