MANAGERIAL TIES AND PERFORMANCE OF COUNTY ASSEMBLIES IN KENYA

Abstract

The central principle of the Constitution of Kenya 2020 is the implementation of the system of devolved Government. In implementing this system, the Constitution in Articles 174 and 175 envisions the power of self- governance by the people and their enhanced participation in decision-making. Hence, County Assemblies are obligated by law to discharge important mandates within the county governments’ set-up in the framework of legislation, representation and oversight for satisfactory performance. However, there is scarce literature on the relationship between managerial ties and performance of legislative organizations such as Kenya’s County assemblies. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between managerial ties and performance of County assemblies in Kenya. The specific objective for the study was to assess the relationship between managerial ties and performance of county assemblies in Kenya. A descriptive census survey was conducted on a target population of 138 respondents from the 46 County assemblies in Kenya comprising the County Assemblies Speakers, Clerks and Deputy Clerks. Data was collected from 98 respondents using structured questionnaire and later analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 24. Correlation analysis was used to assess the strength and direction of the relationship between managerial ties and performance and the t-test was used to test the significance of individual correlation coefficients. There was a negative significant relationship between institutional ties and performance (r = - 0.40, <0.001) while a positive significant relationship existed between social ties and performance (r = 0.205, p < 0.05). Political ties had no significant relationship with performance of county assemblies (r = 0.127, p = 0.211 > 0.05). However political ties were positively and significantly related with oversight by county assemblies (r = .276, p < 0.01). These findings are important to the county governments` policy makers and other stakeholders in making informed decisions on the role of managerial ties in the effective performance of the County Assemblies in particular and generally the County Governments in Kenya