What hinders effectiveness
and efficiency in Developing Countries’ service delivery;
It
is very clear that there are problems in the arena of financial management and
this is reflected in the very poor audit reports received by municipalities and
Local Governments. A key cause of this problem is that there is a critical
shortage of accounting and financial skills available in the municipalities and
other Lower Local Governments with in mainly third world countries. This is not
surprising. This is however related to poor accounting skills mainly with in
the accounting officers in Lowe local governments and Local governments. By improving
a number of skills municipalities may be better able to deliver services
effectively and efficiently from inside. Better communication between the local
governments and citizens will help council determine the needs of the community
and whether they are being met. Improved financial planning will help find the
best possible ways to use available funds. Better technical skills will improve
delivery of particular Local services. The cause of this critical problem is
the lack of skills of the support and entry level staff within the finance
departments.
Many
Countries, however, are unable to deliver services to residents/citizens of
which it might be because of lack of finances or lack of capacity to provide a
good service at an affordable price. Such countries should find other ways to
ensure that the services are improved and reach the people most in need of
them. For example most developing countries like Uganda first seek for donor
support to deliver even services which are cheap and can easily be affordable
like construction of local dispensaries and schools.
Poor
financial control procedures and time allocated to addressing audit queries
detracts severely from service delivery. Most countries set rules and
procedures to manage finances but few try to follow up and take responsibility
of knowing whether those rules and procedures are followed and implemented. I
so doing, most public officers will mismanage finances and eventually services
will not be provided. For example in most LGs in Uganda local revenues which
are supposed to be used to deliver services to the citizens are at times spent
from the collecting place in other words mismanaged and at times there is no
follow up done by the authorities.
Administrative
Red Tape; Although the intent of
the Local Government Act of 1997 is to devolve power to lower tiers of
government and the whole government as a whole, in the rural areas as well as
urban centers, a degree of administrative bureaucracy and donor influence still
exists and this hinders service delivery most especially in LLGs. This stems
from the tendency of the higher administrative echelons to exert hegemony over
local government bodies. Once can only surmise that this problem is a
transitional one and that as full-scale decentralization of administration is
consolidated in the districts. The need for protracted reference by the lower
local councils to higher councils will become less common.[i]
This has still hindered the service delivery process because at times
LGs/governments do not have enough powers to spend some money like the balance
from the conditional grants and some money from donors which come with some
strings attached or ear marked for certain activities and this is a threat to
service delivery.
Civil wars and military coup also is a barrier to service delivery
mainly in developing countries. For example, in
the mid 1960s, Uganda had one of the best health care systems. However, the
military coup of Idi Amin in 1872 followed by the civil war, economic decline
and structural adjustment related cuts that took place between 1976 and 1988
adversely affected public health service delivery systems. As a response to
such problems, Government embarked on, health sector reforms in 1987 in form of
broad decentralization of health services, privatization, broadening the health
financing to introduce user charges and community prepayment schemes on public
facilities and broadening the provider mix with emphasis on effective use of nongovernmental
resources, which all aimed at freeing resources that could eventually be spent
on the poor.[ii]
The destructive individual actions
act as a barrier to service delivery in most countries. The destructive
individual action is a strategy adopted both in the living and industrial
locations in the city of Dar Cs Salaam, by individuals and by industrialists
respectively. In their self-initiatives to provide themselves with basic public
services, which the city council has failed to provide, households and
industrialists adopt strategies, which jeopardize public interests in the
community. The strategy carries along with it a lot of short run and long run
negative effects not only to the individual but to the entire urban population
and the environment as a whole. For instance in solving the problem of insufficient
availability of officially surveyed building plots, residents have adopted a
strategy of building their houses in unsurveyed areas without seeking any
official permission.[iii]
Failure of social groups to be
incorporate in the development process has been also a barrier to service
delivery in most countries where by the citizens do not take up what the
government has put in place. Recent reforms, especially those focusing on poverty
eradication, have sought to incorporate all social groups in the development
process. However, the politics of inclusion have been complicated by the sheer
number of interventions undertaken so far as well as the number of groups
engaged in the exercise. However, the challenge has once again led to the need
for strengthening the state, even at the local level. In many African
countries, the creation of effective local institutions to manage the various
interventions necessitated by decentralisation has only just begun. It will
thus take a while before the local level tender boards, drug procurement
procedures, auditing systems, sanctions for poor performance as well as
accountability to the Centre will work in practice for effective service
delivery. Also of interest is how local leaders will demonstrate accountability
to their constituencies.[iv]
Countries where Local
Government Councils have very little powers over their employees becomes hard
for them to ensure efficient performance and service delivery. In fact,
according to the 1967 Local Administration Act, even the smallest employees in
local government had to be appointed by the President. (Nsibambi, 1998). This
was the state of affairs until 1986 when the National Resistance Movement under
Museveni captured power.[v]
This therefore slows down the rate of service delivery in such countries where
decentralisation is not well practiced.
Corruption among Public
and Civil servants and politicians also is a threat to service delivery in most
countries mainly of Africa. For example Hon Jim Muhwezi was censured by the 6th
Parliament on grounds that he had abused office by peddling influence to get
shares in Crane Bank. However, in 2001, he was voted as a Member of Parliament
for Rujumbura County, and at the centre of a scandal involving management of
the Global Fund to fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria; and later the Global
Alliance for Vaccines and this slowed down the rate of health service delivery
in Uganda at that time it terms of ARVs supply and Immunisation.[vi]
Poor
technology in most countries and backwardness of people on the use of new
technologies most especially in third world countries has slowed down service
delivery. The world we know and understand is rapidly changing and this impact
on social, cultural, political and economic relations in society in terms of
service delivery. Information Technology has been cited as one of the more
dominant forces creating accelerated change. New information management
technologies have emerged making it possible for government to more effectively
manage information as a strategic resource, be more responsive and thereby
attempt to forge a better relationship with citizens. However, it is adopted I
very few countries mainly because at times less than 20% of the population can
use such technologies
Poor Sector Working Groups; Sector Working Groups (SWGs) have been
institutionalized in Uganda’s planning and budgeting process since 1996 and
represent the fora where central (finance, public service, local government)
and line ministries (e.g. health, education) and external stakeholders, including
donors and civil society coordinate sectoral planning and budgeting. In the 2001/02 budget cycle, 16 SWGs were
active, of essentially three generic types (Fölscher, 2001). Advanced SWGs,
involving health, education and roads, were characterized by their focus on
further sectoral prioritization and additional in-depth work on pay reform in
addition to issues standard SWGs considered covering analysis of past sector
policy performance, and planned policy, outputs and activities[vii].
However when these working groups are poor in both planning and budgeting,
service delivery is hindered at times.
Poorly
motivated staff; At a closing ceremony of a forum on the implementation of
decentralization in 1998 the chief administrative officer for Mubende District
put it very clearly to the President of Uganda, Mr. Museveni, that one of the
main problems in the district was that the staff, especially university
graduates, was poorly motivated[i]. He accordingly advised that ‘Central
Government should ensure that University graduates posted at sub-country level
are sufficiently facilitated’ (Republic of Uganda 1998, 68). The level of
salaries and wages for local administration staff in the districts is generally
very low. Yet the workload can be very heavy indeed. For example, in Mbale, the
audit department had a staff
of 5 that was supposed to audit 46 sub-counties, all primary schools, health
units and other district projects including those contracted out to the private
sector (Makerere University, 2000:18)[ii]. Qualified staff working for
districts or lower administrative hierarchies should receive emoluments that
motivate them to work hard and to stay otherwise the temptation to go to the
towns and cities can be very great.
Lack of skilled Personnel;
A recent study sponsored by Makerere
Institute of Social Research has suggested that most of the existing staff in
local government were lacking adequate knowledge and skills to perform the new
roles and responsibilities.[iii]
This was especially true for skills in professions such as agriculture, human
medicine, veterinary medicine, surveying and physical planning. It could be
argued however that this shortage of skilled personnel is only transient being
caused mainly by the low levels of salaries as has been observed in the section
above. This problem can easily be solved when more attractive terms of
employment including improved remuneration levels can be applied by local
governments. This can improve service delivery levels and promote proper
accountability among employees.
Lack
of tools and logistics; The
majority of local administration offices in the country lack basic facilities
and tools, many of which were destroyed during the civil strife of the 1970s
and early 1980s. Many employees of the local governments find themselves in the
unenviable situation of having to improvise at almost every level. This state
of affairs could easily lead to the conclusion of one pessimist who stated that
‘decentralisation entails transfer of activities without corresponding funds,
equipment and facilities’.[iv]
As argued above decentralisation has predestined policy intrusion
on a massive scale. However, while the benefits of decentralisation seem to be
fairly obvious in theory, in practice there is no unambiguous method of gauging
them with foregone conclusion. This is because for lack of counterfactual
history in real life, it is often difficult to say whether the observed change
is a result of policy or of exogenous events. This can be illustrated by the
situation of households in northern Uganda.[v]
Multi structures; There are too many structures involved in service provision within
developing countries and most especially LGs. There is therefore no control and
accountability especially on the part of the other service providers. This has
had spin off effects on the Local Authorities for example constant water cut
offs in a one town (Kanungu TC in Kanungu district-Uganda) led to a public
outcry about the quality of service provision in that particular town. This has
led for calls for the Local Authority to ensure that the quality of service is
improved and that water is provided. This has led to the Local Authority
playing more of a facilitatory role in ensuring that the quality of service is
improved by the other agencies or the government putting in much effort.
Lack of Information/ Data; Developing countries also face the challenge of lack of information for
effective service delivery. For example there is no clear data on the number of
children in each urban area. This would help the Local Authorities take
decisions on the provision of recreational facilities. At the moment these
facilities are provided on an unclear basis with no clear guidelines. The Local
Authorities have to start collecting data on their urban areas, which would
help in deciding which service to provide in which area and they would be able
to justify their decisions more accurately. The existing Community Committees
and Youth Associations would be of great help in this regard.
Low level of Community Participation; The citizens in the urban and rural areas in developing countries generally
do not participate in Local Government activities, planning and Budgeting programmes.
For example in September 2001 Local Government Elections in Swaziland were held
and the turn out in all the towns was low. In the capital city for example only
one sixth of the total population registered to vote and Mbabane in Swaziland has
a population of +/- 60 000 people. The number of people who actually cast a
vote was even lower.[vi]
This has made it difficult for the Local Authorities to effectively deliver
services to these communities. Local Authorities have to create more awareness
on the importance of Local Government issues to their citizens, through
education exercises. Mbabane has embarked on these exercises and there are
initiatives that have been undertaken to educate the citizens of the city on
Local government issues. These initiatives include, radio programmes, city
newsletter, a website and hosting workshops for Community Committees.
Inadequate sources of revenue; Currently the Local governments in Developing countries rely heavily on
the payment of rates and subventions from Central Government for their
livelihood. This has had a significant effect on service provision mainly
because these sources of revenue cannot be relied on due to the inconsistency
in their payments. This in effect slows down the work of the Local Authority up
until people pay their rates and/ or Central Government releases the
subventions. Local Authorities have approached Central Government to implement
a cost sharing formula, which will increase the revenue of the Local
Authorities. The Local Authorities are still seeking means of broadening their
sources of their revenue. However, it is unfortunate that some developing
countries like Uganda abolished graduated tax/Hut tax which would fetch a lot
of revenue. His has steadily but surely slowed down the rate of service
delivery.
Lack of adequate
knowledge on Local Government issues; Swaziland for
example is still at the teething stage of the Local Government concept.[vii]
The first Local Government elections were held in 1995. Prior to that, the
Minister responsible for Local governments appointed the Councillors in the
urban areas. Since 1995, a percentage of the Councillors were elected by the
people and the Minister of Housing and Urban Development would elect his/ hers
too.[viii]
However, last year all the Councillors were elected by the people after the
Minister had declared that he would apply the principles of democracy and not
appoint Councillors. With only 7 years in the Local Government
environment, it is no surprise that both the professionals and politicians
involved in Local Government lack adequate knowledge on Local Government
issues. The lack of knowledge on the Local Government environment has led to
serious delays in service provision, with Officers and Politicians fighting
each other to the detriment of the citizens. Local Authorities have embarked on
training programmes for both officers and politicians on Local government
issues. They have also established twinning arrangements with cities overseas
so as to improve their awareness and learn from the sister cities.
[i] Moses L. Golola: Reforms,
Rural Bureaucracies and Services Delivery in Uganda The Inter-University
Council for East Africa, Kampala Paper for Wider Project Meeting on
“Institutional Capabilities, Reform Ownership and Development in SSA”, 4-5 May
2001, Helsinki, Finland:14
[ii] Pan African Conference Of Ministers For Local Government: Leadership
Capacity Building For Decentralized Governance and Poverty Reduction in Africa
(manthabiseng convention center, maseru, kingdom of lesotho, 30 august – 1
September 2006) On the theme: strengthening competencies for participatory
planning and Budgeting for effective local level delivery of services Presentation
by: Mr. Patrick Mutabwire, Commissioner
Local Councils Development Ministry of Local Government Uganda.
[iii] Ibid
[iv] Reforms, Rural
Bureaucracies and Services Delivery in Uganda, Moses L. Golola the
Inter-University Council for East Africa, Kampala
[v] Nsibambi, A.
(ed.), (1998), Decentralisation and Civil Society in Uganda, Fountain
Publishers, Kampala
[vi] Anti-Corruption
Coalition Uganda (ACCU) Book of fame and shame
[vii] Poverty Reduction and Public Sector Reform in
Uganda The Roles of Institutions in Past
Experience and Challenges for the Way
Forward Charles Byaruhanga Consulting Africa Paper presented to Seminar
[i] Reforms, Rural Bureaucracies and Services Delivery in Uganda* Moses L. Golola The Inter-University Council for East
Africa, Kampala Paper for Wider Project Meeting on
“Institutional Capabilities, Reform Ownership and Development in SSA”, 4-5 May
2001, Helsinki, Finland
[ii] Ibid
[iii] Ibid
[iv] Ibid
[v]Ibid
[vi] Ibid
[vii] The Role of Local Government in Effective Service Delivery in Swaziland Presented to the Regional Workshop On
Decentralisation And Community Empowerment March 25 –
28 2002
Safari Park Hotel, Kenya
[viii] Ibid
