Effects Of Devolution On Implementation Of Public Private Partnership Projects In Kenya: The Case Of Mombasa County

ABSTRACT

Public Private Partnership (PPP) is an emerging economic model in Kenya. It entails the collaboration between state entities and private stakeholders to initiate infrastructural development projects. Nonetheless, this economic policy does not resonate with the current constitution dispensation which is anchored on fiscal decentralisation. This research study intended to identify the effects of the devolution on implementation of public private partnership projects in Kenya. The specific objectives of this study included examining the challenges encountered by counties in implementing PPP projects, the impact of PPP Act, 2013 on devolution of these projects and whether the fiscal framework supports the devolution PPP projects. By and large, this research was underpinned on fiscal devolution theory. This is because it sought to ascertain the nexus between fiscal devolution and public private partnership in Kenya. In terms of the conceptual framework, the independent variables of the study included fiscal, legislative, constitutional and institutional factors while the dependent variable was the implementation of devolution by county governments. The site of study was the County of Mombasa which is resourceful enough for determining the viability of devolving PPP projects in Kenya. In addition, this project used descriptive survey approach to collect the data from the field but due to the inherent technicalities, the population of study was sampled using stratified sampling technique. This mechanism enabled the researcher to narrow down to the most competent respondent. Due to the demanding nature of the respondents’, the project employed closed ended questionnaires as tools of data collection. Thereafter, the data was analysed quantitatively using the measures of central tendencies mean, mode and median. Moreover, the research project utilised tables as tools of data representation. Broadly speaking, the findings of this project established the current constitutional framework does not necessarily support the devolution of PPP projects. This is because schedule four of the Constitution allocates majority of the development objectives to the national government thereby limiting the ability of the counties to engage in PPP projects. It was further established despite these structural and institutional pitfalls the counties are still committed to engaging in PPP within their limited constitutional mandate. Moreover, counties are willing to support constitutional change for purposes of expanding their core mandate in terms of infrastructural obligation and levying of taxes. In summary, this project recommends urgent amendment of the PPP Act, 2013 to recognise the role of the counties in PPP projects. Furthermore, it suggests the amendment of schedule four of the Constitution to expand the infrastructural prerogative of county governments.