Findings Of The Study On The Level Of Understanding Of Devolved Government

Introduction
The government through the deputy prime minister's office and minister for local government formed a taskforce to collect views from people of Kenya on the management of the devolved government.

The task force on the devolved government sat in Bomet County on 24th February, 2011. Majority of those who presented their views were mainly local leaders and civil society groups and little participation came from the common citizens.

Due to the fact that devolution is supposed to give citizens an opportunity to manage and run their resources SmartCitizens carried out a study to gauge the level of understanding among the common citizens on the county government in Bomet County.

Objectives Of The Study

To gauge the knowledge and understanding of the meaning of devolved government among the citizens of Bomet County.
To find out if the citizens of Bomet County are aware of elective and appointive positions in the County.
To determine how much the citizens are conversant with the roles of elected and appointed leaders at County level and the role of National Government
To find out if they feel that the county government would bring some changes that will improve their lives.

Sample Size
500 people were interviewed in the study. 147 were female and 353 male. Their ages were between 18 and 70 years. All respondents were of sound mind, were not cohorts and willingly participated in the study.

Methodology
Random selection method was employed during the study. The study covered all sub locations in the county.

Literate respondents filled the questionnaires. Those who were unable to fill were assisted by trained volunteers.

Table 1
Female and male respondents (sample size 500).

Question		Female	Male	Total
1	Yes	59	324	383
1	NO	88	29	117
2	Yes	132	338	470
2	NO	15	15	30
3	Yes	44	338	382
3	NO	103	15	30
4	Yes	44	294	338
4	NO	103	59	162
5	Yes	59	294	353
5	NO	88	59	147
6	Yes	74	294	368
6	NO	74	59	133
7	Yes	47	221	268
7	NO	69	163	232
8	Yes	12	221	233
8	NO	104	163	267
9	Yes	29	147	176
9	NO	118	206	324
10	Yes	15	117	132
10	NO	132	236	368
11	Yes	0	88	88
11	NO	147	265	412
12	Yes	0	132	132
12	NO	147	221	368
13	Yes	29	206	235
13	NO	118	147	265
14	Yes	15	117	132
14	NO	132	236	368
15	Yes	6	162	162
15	NO	141	191	338
16	Yes	0	118	118
16	NO	147	235	382
17	Yes	10	111	121
17	NO	139	240	379
18	Yes	0	162	162
18	NO	147	191	338
19	Yes	0	162	162
19	NO	147	191	338
20	Yes	15	162	177
20	NO	132	191	323
21	Yes	45	176	221
21	NO	103	176	279
22	Yes	34	216	250
22	NO	80	170	250

Table 2
Percentage of female and male respondents (sample size 500)

Question		Female	Male
1	Yes	40.1	91.8
1	NO	59.9	8.2
2	Yes	89.8	95.8
2	NO	10.2	4.2
3	Yes	29.9	95.8
3	NO	70.1	4.2
4	Yes	29.9	83.3
4	NO	70.1	16.7
5	Yes	40.1	83.3
5	NO	59.9	16.7
6	Yes	50	83.3
6	NO	50	16.7
7	Yes	40.5	57.6
7	NO	59.5	42.4
8	Yes	10.3	57.6
8	NO	89.7	42.4
9	Yes	19.7	40.6
9	NO	80.3	59.4
10	Yes	10.2	33.1
10	NO	89.8	66.9
11	Yes	0	24.9
11	NO	100	75.1
12	Yes	0	37.4
12	NO	100	62.6
13	Yes	19.7	58.4
13	NO	80.3	41.6
14	Yes	19.7	58.4
14	NO	80.3	41.6
15	Yes	4.1	45.9
15	NO	95.9	54.1
16	Yes	0	45.6
16	NO	100	54.4
17	Yes	0	33.4
17	NO	100	66.6
18	Yes	0	45.9
18	NO	100	54.1
19	Yes	0	45.9
19	NO	100	54.1
20	Yes	10.2	45.9
20	NO	89.8	54.1
21	Yes	30.6	50
21	NO	69.4	50
22	Yes	27.4	60
22	NO	72.6	40

Analysis Of The Results
To gauge the knowledge and understanding of the meaning of Devolved Government among the citizens of Bomet County

Those who understand and are knowledgeable were 76.4% against 23.6% with no understanding and knowledge.

91.8% of the male respondents compared to only 40.1% of the female respondent had knowledge on the meaning of devolved Government.

324 (95.8%) of the male respondents and while 44 (29.9%) of the female respondents could name all the four constituencies which forms Bomet county.

To find out if the citizens of Bomet County are aware of elective and appointive positions in the County

(70.6%) of the female respondents knew who heads a county and 29.4% did not have any knowledge. 83.3% of the male and 40.1% of the female respondents positively identified who heads the county.

(46.6%) of the respondents understand the functions of a governor while (53.4%) are not sure or have little knowledge on the same. 57.6% of the male respondents could explain the functions of a governor while 10.3% of the female respondents knew the functions.

(17.6%) of the general respondents were able to clearly state elective and appointive posts in the county.

(82.4%) had no idea of the elective and appointive posts. 24.9% of the male respondents could easily list the elective posts while little number of female respondents could list the existing seats.

(23.6%) knew the role of a senator and (76.4%) didn't know the role of a senator.

To determine how much the citizens are conversant with the services to be provided by the county government.

(35.2%) understands the services that the county government will provide while 324 (64.8) are totally unaware of the expected services from the county government.

45% of male and 10.2% of the female respondents could explain the expected services from the county government.

(50%) of the people interviewed believed that the county government will bring some change to their living standards while the other (50%) were not sure of changes to expect.

Study Discussion
Residents of Bomet County generally understand the meaning and structure of devolved government as per the constitution. Women are however disadvantaged as they have little knowledge on the structure of the County.

The study indicates that the percentage of those who know the leadership and governance of the devolved government is 30-35%. A great number of all the women interviewed had no prior idea on leadership and governance of the county government. Only 40% of the women can explain the leadership structure.

The role of the County is not well understood by majority of the citizens. This is reflected in the results of the study where 35.2% of the people interviewed were able to tell the expected services.

None of the women interviewed was able to tell the expected services. This will achieved if the citizens are supported to understand the services that are delivered and audited on the same. They will not be able to monitor and report the misuse of funds when they have little knowledge on the same.

Recommedations
Women in the county urgently require civic education on devolved government so that they can fully participate and vie for the seats.

The general public in the county also need civic education on the roles of the leadership and the terms of services expected from the county government.

Feb
22^nd

Reforms Café
Making the Judiciary more responsive

On The Radio
Date:22nd Jun 2011

Topic: Should allowances for members of parliament be taxed or not?
Radio Station: Radio Citizen
Hosted By: Lincon Njogu And Francis Luchivya

Newsletter