Why did Uganda as a country adopt decentralization and local

governments?

Decentralization of local government is a reform, which involves a

separation of functions between central and local government, with the
main goal over the responsibilities of decision-making closer to citizens. This
approach makes government-level shortest path of transformation in
response to requests.

Uganda as country adopted decentralisation and local governance since they

are increasingly recognised as basic components of democratic governance,
and among the reasons for its adoption are that;

Decentralization provides an enabling environment in which decision making

and service delivery can be brought closer to the people, especially to the
poor.

Decentralisation is instrumental in the overall issue of re-inventing

government and is essential to achieving the internationally set Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). Under the combined pressure of accelerating
globalisation and persistent demands for deeper and expanded
democratisation, central governments are seeing their traditional roles
continuously challenged.

Re-inventing government would then require revisiting the nature and role of
the state itself and the sharing of political power and administrative
responsibilities.

Decentralisation increases popular participation in decision making because

it brings government closer to people, making it more accessible and
knowledgeable about local conditions and more responsive to peoples'
demands.
Central governments located far away and preoccupied mostly with national
and regional issues, fall short of adequately and efficiently providing services
essentially local in nature. The case for decentralisation can, in fact, be
made on a number of grounds such as the following:

Local authorities tend to act more in line with local preferences and
conditions, and their response to local needs is more expeditious.
Decentralisation provides opportunities to marginalised sectors of the
community, like women in some countries, minorities etc., to participate at
the local level, enabling a more sensitive approach to policy formulation and
implementation.

Because decentralisation tends to enhance transparency and accountability,

the amount of money wrongfully diverted away from development often
declines. The Human Development Report (2003), underlines that in 55
countries, decentralisation of government spending was closely associated
with lower corruption among bureaucrats and reduced rent seeking by
private parties - leaving more money to spend on basic services for poor
people.

Decentralisation increases effectiveness in service delivery, like reducing

absenteeism among government employees, for example, in local schools
and health clinics because elected officials receive complaints from their
constituents and can improve discipline.

Decentralisation provides bureaucrats with early warnings of potential

disasters, enabling quick remedial action.

Decentralisation makes development projects more sustainable and cost

effective because local people are more likely to be involved in their design,
execution, and monitoring.
Decentralisation encourages communities to find solutions to their everyday
problems, yielding innovative ideas, which are more attuned to local
conditions.

Decentralisation provides opportunities for more people, including the under-

represented groups (like women in some countries, the poor, minorities etc.)
to participate in decisions that affect their lives.

Through community participation in decision making, planning,

implementation and monitoring and backed by appropriate institutions and
resources, it can go a long way in improving the quality of life, particularly of
the poorer and marginalised sectors of the population, thereby alleviating
poverty.

Decentralisation brings decision making process closer to the scene of

action. This leads to quicker decision-making of lower level since decisions
do not have to be referred up through the hierarchy.

Decentralisation ensures better control and supervision as the subordinates

at the lowest levels will have the authority to make independent decisions.
As a result they have thorough knowledge of every assignment under their
control and are in a position to make amendments and take corrective
action.

When the authority is decentralised, executives in the local governments will

get the opportunity to develop their talents by taking initiative which will
also make them ready for managerial positions. The growth of the company
greatly depends on the talented executives.

Decentralisation stimulates the formation of small local groups. Since local

managers are given a large degree of authority and local autonomy, they
tend to weld their people into closely knit integrated groups.” This improves
the morale of employees as they get involved in decision-making process.

The principle of accountability works best at local level, devolution of

power makes government more accountable for the implementation of its
tasks. Decentralization also increases the level of citizen participation in
making major decisions and directly affecting the community.

Efficient and accountable administration, the desire for a more efficient

administration has motivated many of the recent constitutional and
legislative changes in countries all over the world. However, experience has
shown that central governments are often unable to successfully implement
efficiency-building policies and programs Local governments have the
potential to perform better. This is based on any of several reasons, listed
below. One must remember, however, that better administration is not an
automatic result of decentralization. Still, if local governments are properly
equipped to fulfill their tasks , the chances for achieving “better
government” through decentralization increase.

Better local development; in many countries, one of the primary motives for
decentralization is the prospect of improving local development.
Development is possible without decentralization, but the advantages of
strong local governments for a more efficient administration just outlined
above also help to improve local development projects.

Decentralization removes institutional and legal obstacles to self-help and it

encourages innovative forms of solutions for local problems. Thus,
empowering local governments “allows diverse solutions to emerge in
response to general problems”.

Local resources for social and economic development can be more easily
mobilized if such projects are decided by and implemented on the local level.
Development activities undertaken with the participation of those involved
allows for tailoring the activities to the specific needs of the local population.

Experience has shown that people are ready to contribute to local

development projects if they can participate in the decision-making and feel
that the particular project improves their situation.

By letting the local people determine how a particular program should be

designed, involvement of the local government enhances the sense of
ownership and responsibility for the project.

It also gives the citizens a personal stake in the program’s success. The
citizens are therefore more likely to invest their time and resources into
furthering the project’s goals. This in turn helps to produce better results
than if the development activities were decided upon from the distance of
the central government.

Local government may make development activities more sustainable by

involving the people affected more directly in the implementation of
projects. Beneficiaries who “own” a project will be more likely to assume the
responsibility for the project’s maintenance.

The ability to help in the early planning phases of a development project in

turn also encourages the local population to carefully monitor and protect
the results of the planning. Psychological self-interest mixes with financial
self-interest to encourage the citizens to actively promote the project’s
successful implementation. In Nepal, for instance, forests are much better
preserved since they have been handed over to village-based “user groups”.
Democracy and protection of liberty; the notion of democracy is not
restricted to participation in national elections. Although the right to elect
leaders of national government is certainly a part of the democratic
principle, democracy also includes the ability to influence the decisions that
directly affect a person’s life and the ability to live in freedom and liberty.
Local governments are able to provide these aspects of democracy in a way
that central governments often cannot.

Protection of minorities; A further traditional argument for decentralized

government is that it has the potential to protect ethnic and other traditional
minorities. If minorities inhabit an area with a certain degree of self-
government, decentralization essentially grants them the right to be free as
a collective.

Conclusion

To summarise, because of a greater degree of accountability, responsiveness

and participation, effective decentralisation can make a big difference by
making the provision of local (social and economic) services more efficient,
equitable, sustainable and cost-effective.
References
Francis Kendall, The Heart of the Nation: Regional and Community
Government in the New South Africa, Norwood 1991, p. 15. 2 UNDP, Human
Development Report 1993, p. 75.

The conditions necessary for making local governments service-oriented will

be discussed below, Part III. 3 Ronan Paddison, The Fragmented State,
Oxford 1985, p. 143. 4 See also

Thomas Fleiner-Gerster, Problèmes de la souveraineté intérieure et

extérieure, in: Federalism and Decentralization, vol. 2, Fribourg 1987, p. 66.
5 Kendall, p. 10. 6 See

Kendall, p. 14. 7 Teresa Ter-Minassian, Decentralizing Government, Finance

& Development, September 1997, p. 36. 8 UNDP, p. 75. 9 Kendall, p. 125.

Fribourg 1987, p. 392. 12 See Yoïchi Higuchi, La décision de la

décentralisation, in: Federalism and Decentralization, p. 25,

Fleiner-Gerster, The Relationship between Federalism and Rights, in: ibid.,

pp. 409-10.