Contribution of Parliamentary watchdog committees in promoting national security : A case of Kenya's National Assembly departmental committee on administration and security

Abstract

The Kenya National Assembly’s departmental committee on administration and security is mandated by the constitution to oversight security agencies in the country so as to ensure that they are adequately facilitated to secure people and their property within the confines of the law. The purpose of this study was to examine the contribution of National Assembly’s administration and security committee in promoting national security. The specific objectives of the study were to examine the functions of parliamentary watchdog committee on administration and security to determine effectiveness of strategies used by parliamentary watchdog committee on administration and security, to examine the challenges facing parliamentary watchdog committees on administration and security and identify measures adopted to improve parliamentary committee on administration and security in promoting national security in Kenya. The study was anchored on three theories which were the Delegation of Power Theory, The Political Philosophy Theory and Security Dilemma Theory. The study adopted descriptive research design to examine the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Target population was 81 people who included 19 parliamentary watchdog committee members 10 employees of parliamentary watchdog committee secretariat and 72 members of the public who attended parliamentary proceedings. The study adopted stratified random sampling method to group together respondents with same characteristics. Purposive sampling was then applied to select respondents for interview. A pretest was conducted to ensure validity and reliability of data collection instrument. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics derived from the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) while qualitative data was analyzed through examining the content in the narratives obtained from open ended questions in the questionnaire as well as interviews. Presentation of data was done in form of frequency tables and graphs while qualitative data was presented using narratives and verbatim. Correlation and regression analysis were done where (R= 894). The study found out that functions of parliamentary watchdog committee, effectiveness of strategies used by parliamentary watchdog committee, challenges facing parliamentary watchdog committee and measures adopted y parliamentary watchdog committee on administration and security had a significant relationship with promotion of national security. The study recommends that parliamentary watchdog committees on administration and security in Kenya should make clear recommendations on policies and matters relating to national security, properly conduct oversight on internal security operations, ensure good strategies are adopted, eliminate challenges entrenching of required skills and avoidance of bureaucracies, improve further their operational independence as well as engage experts in their proceedings to accommodate public-participation in the ever-changing security environment.