Political decentralisation and public service delivery

Abstract

Despite the contentions about the effectiveness of decentralization as a form of governance and administration, there has been a rise in the number of countries attempting different forms of decentralization around the world in recent decades. By investigating what impact political decentralization had on service delivery in Kenya this paper seeks to contribute in gaining more understanding of decentralization and circumstances in which it is most effective. The study takes advantage of the border region between Tanzania and Kenya to perfume a natural experiment following the implementation of the county government framework of governance in 2013 through political decentralization in Kenya using difference-in-difference to examine if and what impact political decentralization had on service delivery.