The post-COVID-19 era has witnessed intensive engagements on latest datasets on COVID-19 experien... more The post-COVID-19 era has witnessed intensive engagements on latest datasets on COVID-19 experiences and the need for robust data systems to understand emerging policy pathways. There have also been extensive deliberations on how public organisations can deliver beyond immediate concerns with economic recovery and improved livelihoods. This paper draws insights from the Afrobarometer round 9 dataset on how different African governments' economies have been recovering from COVID-19 and how this has affected citizens' well-being in Kenya. The results show that despite the good recovery progress, the government has yet to stabilise high food prices, inflation, debts, job creation, etc. While national policy priorities may explain how this situation plays out, these challenges remain complex and linked to external factors that African governments may have little control over.
Policy program implementation challenges remain despite the recent adoption of multi-agency joint... more Policy program implementation challenges remain despite the recent adoption of multi-agency joint action in public administration. This means efforts to realise collaborative goals, and their success may sometimes only last for a while or remain largely symbolic. This paper trace such challenges to common operational dysfunctionalities of horizontal public accountability arrangements, using mutual trust-building strategies as an explanatory variable. It first conceptualises and applies a trust-embedded multi-agency relations framework to unpack the complexities and difficulties in implementing anti-corruption policy in Kenya. It shows how trust-related dysfunctions influence the agency of institutions and of their personnel's involvement in implementing policy programs. The paper calls for systematic training and incentivisation of public managers on devising sustainable collaborative policy networks for the effective implementation of policy programs.
Amidst mounting evidences that collaborative public management need organizational trust for effe... more Amidst mounting evidences that collaborative public management need organizational trust for effective implementation processes, the latter generally enjoys scant attention. It is in most cases mentioned in passing in the analysis of inter-organizational implementation of policy reforms. Basing on a qualitative study of accountability reforms in Kenya, production of organizational trust and its role in the implementation relations between oversight and the mainstream governmental institutions is explored. It is partly found that common collaborative implementation challenges, namely, fragile accountability relations, misinterpretations of authority, poor communication infrastructures, institutional incompetence, public trust deficits, poor coordination, etc. may also correlate to problems of organizational trust. So, besides initiatives for developing public and inter-personnel trust, a policy design for public integrity should likewise device steps that can strengthen internal accountability systems, effective interorganizational communication and justice systems to foster inter-agency trust. It is argued that this can consequently ease cultural and instrumental tensions encountered in collaborative implementation structures for accountable public administration.
Generally, public bureaucracies are typically ill-disposed to promote whistleblowing and whistleb... more Generally, public bureaucracies are typically ill-disposed to promote whistleblowing and whistleblower protection. In developing countries, however, this takes an additional challenge. Public administration in these contexts operates in a largely clientelistic political marketplace. It is mainly characterised by bureaucratic secrecy and well-entrenched networks of gatekeepers/custodians of the deep-sited group or illusory communal interests. Also, public institutions employees are not as easily expendable as private sector employees. Instead, they are often somewhat cushioned by a plethora of laws and intricate and hierarchical disciplinary processes. Besides, they are protected by powerfully placed informal networks found within and outside public administration. More importantly, public institutions feature typical developing and democratising challenges. These include personalised loyalty, fluid policy ownership, extreme disorganisation, institutionalisation deficits (limited statehood conditions), dishonesty, haphazardness, amateurism, and autocratic and self-serving leadership tradition. Under such conditions, conflict of interest is elusive, corruption is less punitive, whistleblowers are despised, and whistleblower protection legislation is implemented in a reactionary manner. This essay dissects these issues within the broader whistleblowing and whistleblower protection and functional governance literature giving nuanced illustrations in India, Bangladesh, Brasil, Ghana and South Africa. Conclusions provide an overview of improving whistleblower protection in developing countries, underpinned mainly in creating democratic public administration.
Policy implementation challenges still need to be addressed despite the recent adoption of multi-... more Policy implementation challenges still need to be addressed despite the recent adoption of multi-agency joint action in improving public administration performance. However, much of what we know about joint action challenges concerns European and North American experiences with African contexts remaining vastly under-reported despite the proliferation of similar institutional arrangements in most countries. This paper conceptually illuminates this void using a trust-embedded approach to understanding inter-agency collaborations in Kenyan contexts. It argues that common joint-action challenges reside in social process deficits undergirding inter-agency relations. The paper's discussions call for systematic training and incentivisation of public managers to devise sustainable collaborative policy networks to implement policy programs effectively.
The post-COVID-19 era has witnessed intensive engagements on latest datasets on COVID-19 experien... more The post-COVID-19 era has witnessed intensive engagements on latest datasets on COVID-19 experiences and the need for robust data systems to understand emerging policy pathways. There have also been extensive deliberations on how public organisations can deliver beyond immediate concerns with economic recovery and improved livelihoods. This paper draws insights from the Afrobarometer round 9 dataset on how different African governments' economies have been recovering from COVID-19 and how this has affected citizens' well-being in Kenya. The results show that despite the good recovery progress, the government has yet to stabilise high food prices, inflation, debts, job creation, etc. While national policy priorities may explain how this situation plays out, these challenges remain complex and linked to external factors that African governments may have little control over.
Policy program implementation challenges remain despite the recent adoption of multi-agency joint... more Policy program implementation challenges remain despite the recent adoption of multi-agency joint action in public administration. This means efforts to realise collaborative goals, and their success may sometimes only last for a while or remain largely symbolic. This paper trace such challenges to common operational dysfunctionalities of horizontal public accountability arrangements, using mutual trust-building strategies as an explanatory variable. It first conceptualises and applies a trust-embedded multi-agency relations framework to unpack the complexities and difficulties in implementing anti-corruption policy in Kenya. It shows how trust-related dysfunctions influence the agency of institutions and of their personnel's involvement in implementing policy programs. The paper calls for systematic training and incentivisation of public managers on devising sustainable collaborative policy networks for the effective implementation of policy programs.
Amidst mounting evidences that collaborative public management need organizational trust for effe... more Amidst mounting evidences that collaborative public management need organizational trust for effective implementation processes, the latter generally enjoys scant attention. It is in most cases mentioned in passing in the analysis of inter-organizational implementation of policy reforms. Basing on a qualitative study of accountability reforms in Kenya, production of organizational trust and its role in the implementation relations between oversight and the mainstream governmental institutions is explored. It is partly found that common collaborative implementation challenges, namely, fragile accountability relations, misinterpretations of authority, poor communication infrastructures, institutional incompetence, public trust deficits, poor coordination, etc. may also correlate to problems of organizational trust. So, besides initiatives for developing public and inter-personnel trust, a policy design for public integrity should likewise device steps that can strengthen internal accountability systems, effective interorganizational communication and justice systems to foster inter-agency trust. It is argued that this can consequently ease cultural and instrumental tensions encountered in collaborative implementation structures for accountable public administration.
Generally, public bureaucracies are typically ill-disposed to promote whistleblowing and whistleb... more Generally, public bureaucracies are typically ill-disposed to promote whistleblowing and whistleblower protection. In developing countries, however, this takes an additional challenge. Public administration in these contexts operates in a largely clientelistic political marketplace. It is mainly characterised by bureaucratic secrecy and well-entrenched networks of gatekeepers/custodians of the deep-sited group or illusory communal interests. Also, public institutions employees are not as easily expendable as private sector employees. Instead, they are often somewhat cushioned by a plethora of laws and intricate and hierarchical disciplinary processes. Besides, they are protected by powerfully placed informal networks found within and outside public administration. More importantly, public institutions feature typical developing and democratising challenges. These include personalised loyalty, fluid policy ownership, extreme disorganisation, institutionalisation deficits (limited statehood conditions), dishonesty, haphazardness, amateurism, and autocratic and self-serving leadership tradition. Under such conditions, conflict of interest is elusive, corruption is less punitive, whistleblowers are despised, and whistleblower protection legislation is implemented in a reactionary manner. This essay dissects these issues within the broader whistleblowing and whistleblower protection and functional governance literature giving nuanced illustrations in India, Bangladesh, Brasil, Ghana and South Africa. Conclusions provide an overview of improving whistleblower protection in developing countries, underpinned mainly in creating democratic public administration.
Policy implementation challenges still need to be addressed despite the recent adoption of multi-... more Policy implementation challenges still need to be addressed despite the recent adoption of multi-agency joint action in improving public administration performance. However, much of what we know about joint action challenges concerns European and North American experiences with African contexts remaining vastly under-reported despite the proliferation of similar institutional arrangements in most countries. This paper conceptually illuminates this void using a trust-embedded approach to understanding inter-agency collaborations in Kenyan contexts. It argues that common joint-action challenges reside in social process deficits undergirding inter-agency relations. The paper's discussions call for systematic training and incentivisation of public managers to devise sustainable collaborative policy networks to implement policy programs effectively.
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Papers by Gedion Onyango