Sirai Chebet Sylvia, Gedion Boiyo Sirai and Felix Kiptoo Chesigor
Kibabii University 1st International Conference; June 22-24,2016
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to investigate the application of Citizen Service Charter as a tool of governance on quality of service delivery in Eldoret East District Commissioners office. The objectives of this study were: to assess the effect of Citizen Service Charter on accessibility of administrative services by service seekers, TO establish the effect of provisions of grievance redress procedure in the Citizen Service Charter on the quality of service delivery, To establish the effect of Citizen Service Charter in promoting transparency and accountability in public service delivery, to determine the effect of Citizen Service Charter on customer satisfaction and to assess perception of government employees on the effect of CSC in improving public service delivery in Eldoret East. The theory of new public management was adopted to guide this study. On the basis of this theoretical framework, a conceptual framework was developed. Descriptive survey design was employed. The target population was 3500 consisting of service providers and service seekers, while a sample size of 350 was drawn from the target population. Stratified and random sampling techniques were used to select respondents who participated in the study. The research instruments employed were questionnaires. Data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS 17.0). Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data collected. Data analysed was presented using tables, pie charts and bar graphs. The findings of the study showed that the use of Customer Service Charter has significantly improved delivery of public services at Eldoret East District Headquarters. The findings of the study were: most service seekers seeking services at Eldoret East District Commissioner’s office had knowledge of the existence of service charters within the government offices, the main source of information on CSC was through notices on government offices, mass media, friends and public barazas, there was some significant improvement on the amount of tine that service seekers spent while waiting to be served in government offices, there was an improvement in accessibility of services however there are few cases of citizens being denied services at government offices, service seekers were dissatisfied with the way in which their grievances were addressed by civil servants, there were a few cases where service seekers had to give bribes to obtain essential public services however there has been some improvement on accountability and transparency levels after introduction of CSC, with the introduction of CSC, citizens’ satisfaction levels have increased and service provision had improved as compared to five years ago. The study recommends that: the government should ensure full implementation of CSC in the public offices countrywide, staff should be trained on the benefits and effects of CSC in improving service delivery, government should diversify the means of communication to the public, the government needs to increase civil servants salaries to reduce incidences of corruption and to improve quality delivery services, the government needs to increase their staff through continuous recruitment so that the objectives of CSC can be achieved.
Key words; Citizen Service Charter, administrative services, grievance redress, transparency, public service delivery
