Relationship between Allocation of Economic Resources and Performance of County Government of Marsabit, Kenya

Abstract

The international unresponsive approach by centralized governments to the social, cultural and economic needs of the citizenry at the grassroots did inform the devolution of both political and administrative powers to sub-national levels of governments. This was with the view that bringing governments closer to the people would improve its performance in terms of delivery of public services. However, in Kenya these devolved governments (county governments) have been reported to adopt imbalances in the allocation of economic resources due to the existence of defective strategies on this. The study is hinged on one theory; Allocation Efficiency Theory. Study's target population was of 295 respondents. Sample size used consisted: 15 Staff Finance and Economic Department County Government of Marsabit, 23 Members of County Assembly and Staff and 51 CSOs' and Private Companies' Managers. Stratified sampling and Simple random sampling were used to pick the respondents. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect primary data from sampled respondents. Descriptive statistics was used quantitative data analysis and content analysis employed for qualitative data through the categorization data into themes, patterns and sub-topics modeled on objectives of the research. The study established that credit provision to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), sharing out of County Jobs, provision of agricultural machinery and irrigation schemes in semi-arid areas all exhibited a relationship with the performance of County government of Marsabit. The study concluded that the existence of substandard strategies on allocation of economic resources adversely influenced the performance of County government of Marsabit as it negatively affected entrepreneurial activities in the County and the economic empowerment of vulnerable groups. The study recommends that the County government of Marsabit should carry out a human resources audit for better sharing of county jobs and invest more in financial capital for SMEs.