Description
Abstract: Research on public participation has noted a significance differences between fostering an inclusive policy-making process and simultaneously maintaining a competent pool of participating citizens. The overall objective of this paper is to establish the implications of this trade-off by testing the effect of measured levels of inclusiveness and participating citizens’ knowledgeability on budgetary allocation among North Rift Economic Block (NOREB) counties. The study was informed by stakeholder theory. The study utilized a sample size of 320 to analyze the objectives of the study. The study established that although inclusiveness maybe negatively associated with the level of public participation, both knowledgeability and inclusiveness are positively associated with budgetary allocation. Overally, the findings suggest that policy makers can pursue the democratic ideal of opening policy making to the citizenry while still maintaining an efficient budgeting process.
Keywords: Budgetary Allocation, Budgeting Process, Public Participation, knowledgeability and inclusiveness
