Citizen Participation and Health Sector Policy Development in Garissa County, Kenya

Abstract

 Garissa County have experiences decline rate on policy development in health care sector for many years now. The statistics in Garissa indicate that the county is facing lots of challenges related to health issues. Therefore, the main objective of the study was investigated citizen participation and policy development in devolved governments in Kenya. This study seeks to benefit Garissa County Government, policy makers and the Government of Kenya in terms of policy development or action plan and future researchers as point of reference.  Descriptive research design will be used. Data was collected from 48 MCAs, 42 county officials and 1143 members of public in Garissa County. Simple random sampling was used to sample 30% of the target population. The sample size was 370 respondents. Data was analysed through the use of descriptive and inferential analysis. The findings of the study indicated that explanation on the need for a healthcare service or project was not always done.  Public approving healthcare project on merits was found to be highly practiced but there was a great concern on citizen participating in the implementation of the projects. It was clear that a small percentage of women and youth were involved in public forums, approval of county projects and participation in gauging the county project status. To completely eliminate the constraints to women's participation in policy development, retrogressive beliefs should be written off and gender roles realigned to enhance women's empowerment and aggravate women's participation, the issue of girl child education needs to be fostered to help curb illiteracy levels amongst womenfolk, enlighten women and the public in general through a thorough civic education exercise. The study recommends that public forums on policy development should always be publicized. The study also recommends that explanation on health care policy implementation by the county officials should be done always.