Are
individual citizens relevant in developing countries’ public service delivery?
By
JULIUS
Byaruhanga
M.A.
Democratic Governance and Civil Society
Weekend
Seminar on Norderney, Germany
23rd -25th November 2012
Presentation summary
- Public services in DC
- PSD most relevant Institutions
- Citizenry mandate in accountability & SD
- Reality in majority DCs
- Possible roles played by individual citizens
- Citizen relationship with governments/state and Private institutions
- Conclusion
— —Public
Services
Public services
are defined as those services which are mainly, or completely,
funded by taxation (Peter C. Humphreys
1998)
Public services can be
considered as those services so essential to modern life that for moral
reasons their universal provision should be guaranteed, and they may/can be
associated with fundamental human rights by the virtue of their
nature
So, Public service
delivery is the implementation of those services and making sure they reach
those people and places they're intended to!
Public service delivery
can also be defined as the process of making public goods and services reach
the expected stake holders or the general public as expected either from the
government or government partners for the good of the general public
—Sample of Public Services
INFRASTRUCTURE
·
- Road, water, air and Rail transport.
- Electricity
- Oil and gas
- —Etc
PRODUCTION
- —Agriculture
- Tourism
- Private sector competitiveness
- Etc
SOCIAL
SERVICE
- Education sectors
- Employment opportunities creation
- Health sectors
- Water and Environment
- Etc
—
Institutions to be strengthened for governments’ effectiveness
in SD
In promoting delivery of the above services, governments
in developing countries will need to strengthen their service delivery strategically positioned institutions for them to effectively play their roles in justification of their establishment. Examples of such may include;
- —Health oriented Commission
- —National Planning Authorities
- Human Rights Commissions
- Courts of Judicature
- Parliamentary Commissions and Accounts Committees
- Electoral Commissions
- Inspectorates of Government
- Law Reform Commissions
- Offices of the Auditor General
- Promotion of civil society and individual citizen participation
- —Local Government Departments and municipal or Town council Departments
- Other government institutions related to service delivery
— —Citizenry mandate in promoting
accountability and effective service delivery
Service experiences are
the outcomes of interactions between organizations, related systems/processes,
service employees and customers (Mary Jo Bitner, William T. Faranda, Amy R.
Hubbert and Valarie A. Zeithaml 1996)
In the constitution of the
Republic of Uganda 1995 Art1(1) All power belongs to the people who shall
exercise their sovereignty in accordance with the same Constitution. “To what
extend do they use that power?”
In the same constitution on
accountability objective XXVI
(i) All public offices shall be held in trust for the
people.
(ii) All persons placed in positions of leadership and
responsibility shall, in their work, be answerable to the people.
“Is there really accountability to people? & Do
people demand for accountability?”
—
Reality of such Constitutional Provisions
- Inferiority complex; Fear of Public officials “servants” by “commoners”
- Less or no accountability both through media and other forms of communication
- —Less or no access to Government gazettes and other necessary information
- —High corruption levels at all governance and management levels
- Manipulation into bureaucratic work by politicians
- Etc….
—
Are there some roles played by individual citizens in promoting
Service Delivery?
YES!
- Electoral powers
- Payment of Taxes
- “Local Citizens” can actually be involved in co-creating the service provided by government or the state; Improved service performance can be attained by viewing the client/customer as a “partial” employee (Mills, Chase and Margulies
- Service firms should be encouraged to involve customers more in production in order to increase productivity (Lovelock and Young 1979)
- Formation of community service oriented groups/associations
- Follow up of public expenditures through their local leaders; as funders of public services, its their role to claim for accountability
- Own, support and take part in developmental government programmes
———
Conclusion
Time is now when all citizens in developing countries
can exercise their rights for their own good.
Any organized society with no doubt will always have an
influential voice in the services they get, when they get them and how they
should get them.
It’s time to stop waiting for “empty” promises made by
politicians during campaigns but to claim for what you deserve at the time we
want them because we have worked for it and contributed to it through our sweat
as we pay taxes.
—
If all citizens in any country can know that power
belongs to them, then exercise of that power will not only be a change but a
fundamental change in Public Service delivery in any developing
state.
—END
Thank you so much for
your attention!
Julius Byaruhanga
Public Service
Delivery Activist
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