The Monitoring Paradox: Why Oversight Mechanisms Fail to Predict PPP Infrastructure Projects Performance in Kenya

Purpose: The study explored role of project monitoring mechanisms in enhancing performance of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) infrastructure projects in Kenya. Policy puts a lot of emphasis on the need for monitoring along the project lifecycle; however, many PPP projects continue to display inefficiencies pointing towards weak monitoring systems. Materials and Methods: Data were collected from 252 respondents representing government agencies, private consortia, and project management units across 103 PPP projects. Regression analysis was used to test relationship between project monitoring mechanisms and project performance. Findings: Project monitoring had a statistically significant but weak positive influence on project performance (β = .014, p < .005). The positive but not so profound effect suggests that the monitoring frameworks that exists are largely compliance-oriented rather than the one that drives performance in the project environment. Implications to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study recommends institutionalizing real-time monitoring, feedback systems, and adoption of digital data tools to strengthen accountability within PPP infrastructure projects in Kenya. To anchor these measures, the Public Private Partnerships Act, 2021 and the regulations around privately funded public infrastructure should be amended to create a performance-based monitoring making it mandatory. This includes standardization of KPIs, periodic independent performance reviews, and public disclosure of monitoring reports across the project lifecycle.