Abstract

The difficulty with service delivery remains a hard task to resolve among devolved governments. Implementation of devolution has resulted in
mixed outcomes. While in some regions it is tipped as a model for improving service delivery, in other areas it has failed to deliver its mandated
functions. Inadequately distributed resources, un-prioritised services, poor health and education and housing and roads among others are major
problems affecting both urban and rural counties alike. Devolution as a system of governance was introduced after the promulgation of the new
constitution in 2010 to respond to the public demand for an efficient and effective public sector. However, 10 years after this move, the efficiency
and effectiveness in service delivery has continued to face many bottlenecks at the resource distribution, citizen participation accountability and
transparency and service delivery as identified in the literature review. This article aimed at analyzing the effect of devolution system of governance
on service delivery in Uasin Gishu County in Kenya. Various theories were explored linked to the various variables considered under the study.
These are: The Soufflé theory, The social capital theory, The principal Agent theory and lastly the Accountability theory. Eventually the soufflé
theory was selected as being more responsive to the study’s variables as it gives the best explanation on linkages between various variables of
devolved system of governance and how they are related to the outcomes, that is, service delivery. The conceptual framework outlines the
independent variables, as resource distribution, citizen participation accountability and transparency while the dependent variable is service
delivery. Study took a quantitative approach that emphasizes objective measurements and statistical, numerical analysis of data. The study adopted descriptive and correlation research designs to facilitate determination and explanation of variable relationships and used a simple random sample
of 154 respondents obtained from a target population of 3,125 employees of Uasin Gishu County. The sampling frame consisted of county executive
members and employees, member of county assembly office staff, county assembly service board members, county governor officers and county
government staff. Regression analysis, multiple regression and correlation were run to determine the relationship between resource distribution,
citizen participation accountability and transparency and service delivery following a multivariate regression model. It was established that
devolved system of governance and all its three components were satisfactory predictors of service delivery having significantly strong effects. The
study concludes that devolution devolved system of governance (R-square of 0.482; p value <0.05) has effect on service delivery and can be a crucial
model of improving public service delivery in Kenya. The article recommended that devolved system of governance can be effective model for
improving service delivery.