Effect of Public Participation on Local Legislation in Banadir Region, Somalia

Abstract

Public participation plays an important role in the democratization of countries globally. The accomplishment of public participation process is determined by how well it is organized.  This study sought to examine the effects of public participation on local legislation in Banadir region of Somalia. The study was guided by the following objectives, to investigate factors that led to public participation, examine the design of public participation mechanism; investigate the process of public participation and analyze the consequences of public participation. The research will employ a descriptive research design. The study population comprised all the stakeholders including the youth, elders, staff employed by the regional government, the clergy, politicians and the non-governmental organizations involved in public participation in Banadir region. Purposive sampling was done to come up with the sample size of the study. Regarding the variance among the target population, where a number of target population involved, the sample size of this study was 130 respondents. Eighty (80) of the respondents were community members including local politicians, clergies, traders, university lecturers, university students, farmers, chiefs and opinion leaders. Twenty (20) of the participants were management staff and heads of national civil labor departments. Thirty (30) respondents were also from the Local community elders who are engaged in public participation programs in Banadir Region.  Both secondary and primary data was accessed for the study. Primary data was collected from the identified stakeholders using the questionnaires, while secondary data was obtained from books and journals from Kenyatta University Post Modern Library. The study used two theories: New public management theory and Cornwall’s Theory of Participation that describe the relevance of public participation public development. Data processing and cleaning was done; the descriptive statistics was utilized quantitative data. Statistical tables and graphs was present the result. Content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. The study found out that the citizen’s attitude has an impact on public participation. When citizens have a positive attitude towards the local legislation services, there are high chances they will participate. The study also found out that public participation design and process have an influence on local legislation. Therefore, the study recommends that the government and other stakeholders should come up with various ways of ensuring that all citizens are informed about public participation. The study also recommended that public participation design and process should be improved with the aim of improving public participation.