Skip to main content

The Corporate Governance of the Kenyan Public Sector

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Corporate Governance in Africa

Abstract

As a former British colony, Kenya has inherited comparable Westminster institutional settings, generating both statutory and customary laws since independence in 1963 and maintaining a reasonable degree of macro-economic stability (Nolte and Väth 2015). The governance of the Kenyan government with respect to public financial management oversight falls under the Office of the Auditor General of Kenya (OAGK), which is described in its service charter as ‘the lead agency in promoting good governance and accountability in the management of public resources’ (OAGK 2014, p. i).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Andon, P., Free, C., & Sivabalan, P. (2014). The legitimacy of new assurance providers: Making the cap fit. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 39, 75–96.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barako, D. G. (2014). Financial accountability in Africa. Paper presented at fórum of African Association for Public Administrators and Management (AAPAM) titled; Enhancing Governance and Financial Administration in Africa, Gaborene, 15th–17th July.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barako, D. G., & Brown, A. M. (2008). Corporate social reporting and board representation: Evidence from the Kenyan banking sector. Journal of Management and Governance, 12, 309–324 (Springer Netherlands, Netherlands).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barako, D. G., & Brown, A. M. (2009). Evaluating anti-money laundering initiatives: A country perspective. Evaluation Journal of Australasia, 9(2), 16–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barako, D. G., Taplin, R. H., & Brown, A. M. (2010). HIV/AIDS information by African companies: An empirical analysis. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 45(4), 387–405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brass, J. N. (2012). Blurring boundaries: The integration of NGOs into Governance in Kenya. Governance: An International Journal of Policy, Administration, and Institutions, 25(2), 209–235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, A. M. (2011). The milieu of government reporting in Vanuatu. Pacific Accounting Review, 23(2), 165–184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, A. M. (2013). Auditing Solomon Islands’ health and medical governance. Clinical Governance: An International Journal, 18(3), 200–209.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, A. M. (2014). The challenges of accountability in a national museum. Museum Management and Curatorship, 29(4), 311–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Curry, G. N. (2003). Moving beyond post development: facilitating indigenous alternatives for development. Economic Geography, 79(3), 405–423.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diamond, J. (2002). The role of internal audit in Government financial management: An International Perspectives (IMF Working Paper. WP/02/94).

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodson, S. G., Mary, K. J., Lapointe, J. R. (2012). Supplemental Guidance: The role of auditing in Public Sector Governance, The Institute of Internal Auditors, http\\na.theiia.org/standardsguidance/Public%20Documents/Public_Sector_Governance1_1_pdf

    Google Scholar 

  • Hassid, J., & Brass, J. (2015). Scandals, media and good governance in China and Kenya. Journal of Asian and African Studies, 50(3), 325–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hope, K. R. (2012). Managing the public sector in Kenya: Reform and transformation for improved performance. Journal of Public Administration and Governance, 2(4), 128–143.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoque, Z., & Thiagarajah, T. (2015). Public accountability and the role of the Auditor General in legislative oversight. In Z. Hoque (Ed.), Making governments accountable: The role of public accounts and the national audit office (pp. 3–23). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hynes, N. (2010, February). Governance & ethics in Kenya. Accountancy Ireland, 42(1), 56–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobs, K., & Jones, K. (2009). Legitimacy and parliamentary oversight in Australia: The rise and fall of two public accounts committees. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 22(1), 13–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jones, K. (2006). Exactly on all-fours with the English precedent – Establishing a public accounts committee in the antipodes. Victorian Historical Journal, 77(2), 194–211.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, K., & Jacobs, K. (2006). Governing the government: The paradoxical place of the public accounts committee. Australian Parliamentary Review, 21(1), 63–79.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, K., & Jacobs, K. (2009). Public accounts committees, new public management, and institutionalism: A case study. Politics & Policy, 37(5), 1023–1046.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • K’akumu, O. A. (2004). Privatization of the urban water supply in Kenya: Policy options for the poor. Environment and Urbanization, 16(2), 213–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Katumanaga, M. (2013). Multi-partism and the political economy of exclusion in Kenya. In K. Njogu (Ed.), Citizen participation in decision making: Towards inclusive development in Kenya. Nairobi, Kenya: Twaweza Communication.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kobia, M., & Mohamed, N. (2006). The Kenyan experience with performance contracting. Paper presented at the 28th African Association of Public Administrators and Management (AAPAM) Round Table Conference, Arusha, Tanzania, 4th–8th December.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lienert, I., & Modi, J. (1997). A decade of civil service reforms in sub-Saharan Africa (IMF Working Paper. WP/97.179).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Finance. (2015). National Treasury, http://www.treasury.go.ke/index.php/aboutus1/background-information

  • Montano, D. (2009). Financial accountability: Enhancing the functions of the public accounts committees in Trinidad and Tobago. The Parliamentarian, 3, 232–235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muthaura, F. K. (2010). The role of Kenya’s public service in a changing global environment: Opportunities and challenges. Paper presented at Kenya Association of Public Administrators and Management (KAPAM) Annual Meeting, Nairobi, Kenya, 9th December.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nolte, K., & Väth, S. (2015). Interplay of land governance and large-scale agricultural investment: Evidence from Ghana and Kenya. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 53(1), 69–92.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nyamori, R. D., & Nyamori, B. (2015). Evolution and effectiveness of the Kenyan Public Accounts Committee. In Z. Hoque (Ed.), Making governments accountable: The role of public accounts and the national audit office (pp. 275–292). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nyamori, R. D., and Gekara, V. O. (in press). Performance contracting and social capital (re)formation: A case study of Nairobi City Council in Kenya. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, http:\\dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2015.06.004

  • OAGK. (2013a). Auditor-General on the Appropriation Accounts, Other Public Accounts and the Accounts of the Funds of the Republic of Kenya for the Year 2012/2013: Summary of the Report of Auditor-General for the Year 2011/2012, Office of the Auditor General, Nairobi.

    Google Scholar 

  • OAGK. (2013b). Report of the Auditor General on the Appropriation Accounts, Other Public Accounts and the Accounts of the Funds for the Republic of Kenya for the Year 2011/2012, Office of the Auditor General, Nairobi.

    Google Scholar 

  • OAGK. (2014). Auditor-General on the Appropriation Accounts, Other Public Accounts and the Accounts of the Funds of the Republic of Kenya for the Year 2012/2013: Summary of the Report of Auditor-General for the Year 2012/2013, Office of the Auditor General, Nairobi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Odhiambo-Mbai, C. (2003). Public service accountability and governance in Kenya since independence. African Journal of Political Science, 8(1), 113–145.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osman, A. D., Lin, V., Robinson, P., & Jackson, D. (2011). Policy and governance issues in Kenya's border towns: The case of Wajir groundwater management. The Australasian Review of African Studies, 32(1), 32–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ossewaarde, R., A. Nijhof and L. H. (2008). Dynamics of NGO Legitimacy: How organizing betrays core missions of Ingos. Public Administration and Development, 28(1), 42–53.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ouma, S. (2010). Global standards, local realities: Private agrifood governance and the restructuring of the Kenyan horticulture industry. Economic Geography, 86(2), 197–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker, L. D. (2014). Corporate social accountability through action: Contemporary insights from British industrial pioneers. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 38, 632–659.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pelizzo, R. (2010). Public Accounts Committees in the Pacific Region. Politics & Policy, 38(1), 117–137.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Porter, S., Brown, A. M., Purushothaman, M., & Scharl, A. (2006). The strategies of the IASB and its funders. Journal of Strategic Change, 15(6), 305–317.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rahaman, A. S. (2010). Critical accounting research in Africa: Whence and whither. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 21, 420–427.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Samsuddin, R. S., & Mohamed, N. (2009). The magnitude of public accounts committee’s (PAC’s) work in reviewing and reporting on state governments’ financial statements. Malaysian Accounting Review, 8(2), 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shore, C., & Wright, S. (1990). Audit culture and anthropology: Neo-liberalism in British higher education. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 5, 557–575.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sian, S. (2006). Inclusion, exclusion and control: The case of the Kenyan accounting professionalisation project. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 31(3), 295–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sian, S. (2007a). Reversing exclusion: The Africanisation of accountancy in Kenya, 1963–1970. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 18(7), 831–872.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sian, S. (2007b). Patterns of prejudice: Social exclusion and racial demarcation in professional accountancy in Kenya. Accounting Historians Journal, 34(2), 1–42.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sian, S. (2010). Between the lines: The professionalisation of accountancy in Kenya. In C. Poullaos & S. Sian (Eds.), Accountancy and empire: The British legacy of professional organisation. Routledge New Works in Accounting History.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taplin, R., Zhao, Y., & Brown, A. M. (2014). Failure of Auditors: The lack of compliance for business combinations in China. Regulation & Governance, 8, 310–331. doi:10.1111/rego.12011.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Barako, D.G., Brown, A.M. (2016). The Corporate Governance of the Kenyan Public Sector. In: Howell, K., Sorour, M. (eds) Corporate Governance in Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-56700-0_9

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics