Impact of the Local Authority Transfer Fund (LATF) on Service Delivery: Perspectives from the County Council of Garissa, Kenya

This paper interrogates the impact of LATF on service delivery and draws illustrations from the county council of Garissa in Kenya. Its point of departure is the strengthening of LAS by the Kenyan government to deliver services introduced the LATF in 1999, increasing the allocation to the fund from Shs.1b in FY 1999/2000 to Ksh.7.5b in FY 2006/07. The County Council of Garissa allocation increased from Kshs 4, 052, 720.00 in 1999/2000 to Kshs 50, 153, 956.00 in 2006/2007. The paper used structured and semi-structured questionnaires to the respondents the data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics where percentages based on frequencies were calculated. The paper found out that after the introduction of LATF, the quality of services offered improved and the council was able to offer additional services according to seventy-six percent of the respondents, while it did not for twenty-four percent of the respondents. With the exception of reservations from twenty-four percent of the respondents, the paper concludes that LATF has enabled the council to offer additional services and improve the quality of its services.