As we
sing our daily song of deteriorating service delivery mainly in developing states,
i find it necessary to suggest some of the approaches we can use to attack the
challenge and face some improvement. Some of the approaches may among others
include;
Involving
Local communities “citizen participation”; there is need for direct involvement of the communities
in Local Government issues through a number of consultative meetings like
convening mass meetings. Such community mass meetings can be called to ensure
decentralisation of information to the lowest level of the community. It is in
these meetings were communities can be briefed on important developmental
projects and other issues related to their vicinity as a whole. Important of these
meetings however should be more characterised by the people in the informal
areas and these are the people considered to be the poor people of the cities
and villages. Indirect and direct involvement of the communities has been
through the community structures set up by the Local Government however not
effectively implemented. Even though these committees may not be formalised in
law, they can be the main link between the Local government and the communities.
In Uganda, Local communities through the NAADS programme have been directly
involved in the NAADS activities however; the challenge has been the
discriminative nature of such arrangements. Policies set up to improve service
delivery in the communities should be enacted in consultation with the local committees.
Updating
of legislation; The
Local Authorities in the country have the capacity to lobby the Central
Government to update the existing legislation governing Local Authorities. This
can consequently lead to a review of some by-laws and ordinances both at local
and national levels where the Local Authorities’ views can be fully represented
and contribute significantly to the process. Another approach could be step by
step further and successfully requested delegation of certain powers to the Local
authorities so as to shorten the lengthy bureaucratic processes that delays
service delivery and promotes high corruption levels.
Formation
of Professional/ Political Associations; these are categorised to be National Associations and
consist mainly of people working in the Local Government environment. The
Officers formed the Local Authorities Managers Association of Swaziland. These may among many others consist of
Managers from all the Local Authorities and some officers from the central
Ministries. The main reason behind the formation of these structures is to
share ideas amongst members and further find solutions to issues of common
interest. The ultimate aim is to improve awareness on Local Government issues
amongst members and in turn improve delivery in their constituencies.
Establishment of Urban Development Projects; It is important to note that unless there is
establishment of urban oriented projects and soliciting for project funding,
service delivery in towns, cities and municipalities will remain a nightmare.
Through such projects, procurement of Waste Disposal trucks to improve on the
waste disposal service can be done. But as mentioned above, it is important for
communities to be actively involved in such project arrangements right from the
start. They have to be fully involved in the project location identification process
and technical implementation through their representatives in the Community
Committees and their participation in the community meetings related to the
project has to be encouraged. If all these programmes can apply to all
developing countries then SD can be efficient and effective if all factors
including corruption are put aside.
Community
Infrastructure Projects; the
Council may assist the communities in buying material for whatever community
project they may have and the communities may be expected to contribute the
labour and whatever excess material they may require. They may be further
expected to manage the project from inception to completion. This approach has
highly lacked in management of community projects because of the known
government tendencies of “I can do it all by myself” hence not giving chance to
willing citizens to contribute their efforts to such services.
Strengthening
of strategic planning and economic development strategies which must be highly
inclusive; these may be
meant to guide the development of communities with the aim of meeting
particular targets within set dates. It may be intended that both strategic
plan and economic development strategy will improve service delivery in the
cities or LGs and municipalities. Both Strategies may be involved in all
sectors of the community including the Councillors. Important to note is that;
however much there are strategic plans in most decentralised local governments
in developing countries, they lack the inclusive nature and are less
implemented but rather shelved.
Strengthening of Public Private Partnerships; the governments may embark on PPP to ensure that services the government may not be able to provide on its own it may partner with other NGOs or non-profit organisations both within and outside the country. The main aim of this partnership is to ensure that the service to the community is improved but not to the detriment of the citizens of the city or a LG. However, the challenge has been; whereas in developed states where service delivery is almost at its apex there are high levels of PPP, in developing states the reverse is absolutely true. Politicians are known for ear-marking for instance NGOs that deal with governance issue as part of the opposition even when they are fighting their “governments’” wars of corruption elimination and inclusive governance as an approach to shift away from the elite model of policy making.
Therefore, in an attempt to improve service delivery,
I am forced to re-eco that inclusiveness is one of the most important aspect. Any
call for a change in service delivery levels is expected to be highly
appreciated by not only the state or government but most importantly citizens. A
responsible citizen (here I mean all citizens including those in political
powers) should always be on alert and innovative in any way deemed effective to
improve service delivery for the common good. We are in a deteriorating state
of service delivery not because we can’t improve the situation but because we don’t
want to improve it due to opportunism and selfish nature of not only politicians
and bureaucrats but also individual citizens. People always feel for themselves
not for others and even those who partly feel for others it will come after
high levels of self satisfaction.
Julius Byaruhanga
