Achieving Public Participation through Risk Management for Sustainable Procurement Management in Devolved System of Governments in Kenya

Abstract

Public participation is a concept enshrined in the Kenyan constitution, 2010 with an intention to devolve powers to the common citizens and increase transparency and accountability hence may play a role towards public procurement sustainability. However, the relationship between public participation through risk management and sustainable procurement management has not yet been established despite many community-based infrastructure projects facing a lot of supply disruptions, health and safety issues as well as poor supplier selection in county governments in Kenya. The study, therefore, intended to assess the influence of public participation through risk management for sustainable procurement management in devolved systems of government in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive study design. The target population was 1146 while 348 respondents were sampled through a stratified sampling method from Makueni, Machakos, and Kitui Counties. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect data, descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze collected data while the F-test was used to test the hypothesis of the study. SPSS aided in data analysis. Key findings of the study indicate a positive and linear relationship between public participation (risk management) and sustainable procurement management.  A recommendation is therefore made to both national Government and county governments to stipulate and implement policies that would improve public participation so as to improve sustainable procurement management in devolved systems of government. The study proposes that another public participation framework stipulates (Procurement planning, contract administration, monitoring, and evaluation) as well as other counties be investigated in order to have a holistic picture of the phenomena and the entire country.