An Assessment of the Effect of Mass Media Platforms and County Assembly Initiatives on Public Participation in Kitui County

Abstract

Devolution entails the decentralization of power and distribution of resources from the national government to the county governments. To ensure that national and county governments are providing good governance, public participation is vital. Studies done indicate that there is no information pertaining to devolutuon, county governments,  and public participation in the Kenyan county governments. In this study, Kitui county has been used to assess the county assembly initiative and the mass media initiative and their effectiveness in encouraging public participation. The exploratory research design was used to collect data from the target population of Kitui Central Sub County. Data was collected from 100 respondents using structured questionnaires. From the results received, it is evident that Kitui County Government has taken steps to enhance public participation by implementing Mass Media initiatives and County Assembly initiatives. Although, most of the respondents saw the need for the county government to put in more effort to ensure that the public is involved in governance, establishing efficient and effective public engagement initiatives will help strengthen public participation in devolved structures.