Influence of Corporate Governance Practises on Service Delivery in County Governments: A Case of County Government of Nakuru Kenya

The adoption of devolved system of governance in 2013 in Kenya presented the County Governments with the opportunity to enhance service delivery at the local levels. However to date many Counties continue to experience increasing demands from its citizenry for provision of better services in a fair and transparent manner. This coupled with increased transfer of funds to devolved unit calls for accountability in use of public resources. The purpose of the study was to assess the corporate governance practices by County government of Nakuru as a requirement for effective management of a public institution. The study explored the following aspects disclosure and accountability systems, stakeholders participation in decision making, leadership structures and management qualification and compensation and how these variables of corporate governance practices affect service delivery. Literature was reviewed on theories that informs and explains the corporate governance practices. The study was conducted within Nakuru County. This study used descriptive survey design to enable the gathering of quantifiable information that can be used for statistical inference on the target population through data analysis. The target population was derived from County budget and economic forum, elected Members of County assembly, workers union, county executive members and stakeholders groups by applying random sampling. The constitution office holders who include the controller of budget and commissioner of revenue allocation representative were all be purposively sampled. The researcher used questionnaires as instruments of collecting data from respondents in addition to analysis of external and internal policy documents to collect information on reporting. The researcher relied on questionnaires and interview guide in collecting data. The Data collected was processed and analyzed through use of both descriptive and correlation analysis. The study established that all the five variables i. e transparency, Stakeholders participation, adherence to law and fiscal responsibility, management practices and leadership roles and responsibilities had a positive correlation with service delivery. An increase in good corporate governance practices leads to improved service delivery. The study recommended a need for the county government to come up with its calendar of events on its activities to improve transparency, Need for the county government to encourage stakeholders to participate by incorporating their views in governance processes, implementation of the laws that the county government uses to improve its fiscal policy, stream lining of the public service board to ensure equal employment opportunity is offered to all citizens and lastly the county to come up with a communication policy that defines and elaborates the roles and responsibilities of each individual in leadership position. The study was envisaged to benefit the following groups; the management County government of Nakuru on best corporate governance practices, the residence of Nakuru county on corporate governance practices, and county governments on workable solutions from a global perspective on best corporate governance practices. Further research in this area should do correlation studies of governance structures in different counties and share the success stories and learning points to counties that are lagging behind in terms of devolution and governance structures