This study analyzed the asymmetric effects of financial development on economic growth using a model augmented with inflation and government expenditure asymmetries to inform model specification. The research question used entails, Do their asymmetry changes significantly influence growth? Using the nonlinear auto-regressive distributive lag (NARDL), the most significant results posit that positive shocks in financial development in the short run and its negative shocks in the long run increase and decrease economic growth, respectively. Regarding inflation, its positive (negative) shocks in both runs, respectively, reduce (increase) economic growth. In comparison, positive shocks in financial development that spur growth in the short run and negative shocks in financial development (government expenditure) that increase (reduce) growth are the most domineering effects as the rest of the shocks insignificantly affect growth. Results clearly demonstrate to an environment steered by stable and sustainable inflation that regulated government expenditure and comprehensive financial system deepening would positively cause economic growth. Therefore, appropriate policies that favor low inflation and reduced government spending, expansion of feasibly reformed financial institutions, capital accumulation, and increased resource mobilization should be instituted if real growth is to positively happen.

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Public participation aimed at improving the effectiveness of governance by involving citizens in governance policy formulation and decision-making processes. It was designed to promote transparency, accountability and effectiveness of any modern government. Although Kenya has legally adopted public participation in day-to-day government activities, challenges still cripple its effectiveness as documented by several scholars. Instead of reducing conflicts between the government and the public, it has heightened witnessing so many petitions of government missing on priorities in terms of development and government policies. Results show that participation weakly relates with governance hence frictions sustainable development. Theoretically, public participation influences governance efficiency and development, directly and indirectly, thus sustainable development policy and implementation depends on Public participation and good governance. However, an effective public participation in governance is has been fractioned by the government. Instead of being a promoter/sponsor of public participation, the government of Kenya has failed to put structures that would spur participation of citizens in policy making and other days to activities. This has brought about wrong priority setting and misappropriation of public resources; The government officials and political class interference ultimately limit public opinion and input effects on decision-making and policy formulation, which might be an inner factor determining the failure of public participation in Kenya. The study suggests the need for strengthening public participation by establishing an independent institution to preside over public participation processes.

The use of PP in government policy formulation, decision making as well as the implementation of government programs has been embraced by many countries in the world. Kenya is among the recent developing economies that legally adopted PP through the promulgation of the new constitution a decade ago that ushered in PP. Despite this, its efficiency has staggered as information regarding public involvement in governance is still limited. We present the analysis of challenges facing the integration of public participation in governance and their impact on sustainable development. We use primary data from Bungoma County in Kenya, and SEM techniques that encompassed the CFA test to validate variables, path analysis to model perceived underlying direction of causality amid the constructs, and impact estimation using the coefficient estimator of SEM regression. The study finds PP significantly impacting on governance for H1, public participation meaningfully influences sustainable development (SD) for H2, governance considerably moderates the PP-SD relationship for H3, and the PP-Governance interaction process substantially supports SD. The study recommends consolidation of public awareness through civic education to strengthen understanding of their civil role in governance, timely notice as well as equitable facilitation in attending government development forums. Further, in enhancing PP functionality, the study suggests institutionalization by establishing the Office of Public Participation Rapporteur (OPP) responsible for collecting citizen and leaders’ views, and implementation of associated policies and regulations.

Public participation aimed at improving the effectiveness of governance by involving citizens in governance policy formulation and decision-making processes. It was designed to promote transparency, accountability and effectiveness of any modern government. Although Kenya has legally adopted public participation in day-to-day government activities, challenges still cripple its effectiveness as documented by several scholars. Instead of reducing conflicts between the government and the public, it has heightened witnessing so many petitions of government missing on priorities in terms of development and government policies. Results show that participation weakly relates with governance hence frictions sustainable development. Theoretically, public participation influences governance efficiency and development, directly and indirectly, thus sustainable development policy and implementation depends on Public participation and good governance. However, an effective public participation in governance is has been fractioned by the government. Instead of being a promoter/sponsor of public participation, the government of Kenya has failed to put structures that would spur participation of citizens in policy making and other days to activities. This has brought about wrong priority setting and misappropriation of public resources; The government officials and political class interference ultimately limit public opinion and input effects on decision-making and policy formulation, which might be an inner factor determining the failure of public participation in Kenya. The study suggests the need for strengthening public participation by establishing an independent institution to preside over public participation processes.