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Politico-Administrative Relations in Tanzanian Local Government Authorities

Article in SSRN Electronic Journal · January 2015

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2561813

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Stream Name: Institutional and Organizational Development (IOD)
Research Topic: Politico-Administrative Relations in Tanzanian Local Government Authorities
Members: Dr Wilhelm Mafuru, Deogratias Mpenzi ( Team Leader) , Idda Lyatonga, Oscar
Tefurukwa, Orest Masue , Richard Ngowi and Lameck Wilfred.

FINAL REPORT 02ND FEBRUARY 2015

ABBREVIATIONS
DED-District Executive Director,
URT-United Republic of Tanzania,
PMO-RALG-Prime Minister’s Office Regional Administration and Local Government,
HOD-Head of Department,
DC-District Commissioner,
RC-Regional Commissioner,
MP-Member of Parliament,
CCM-Chama Cha Mapinduzi,
CHADEMA- Chama Cha Demokrasi na Maendeleo,
CUF- Civic United Front,
MD- Municipal Director,
DAS- District Administrative Secretary,
NIT- National Institute for Transportation,
MoEVT, Ministry of Education and Vocational Training,
MoHSW- Ministry of Health and Social Welfare,
TRA- Tanzania Revenue Authority,
PA- Political Administrative
LGA- Local Government Authority (ies),
MES- Mpango wa Elimu ya Sekondari
CAG- Chief Auditor General
Politicians= Councillors and Administrator = Bureaucrats/ Administrative Staff
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Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2561813

1. Abstract
Over decades, many countries have committed to create local governments in order to bring the
government closer to the citizens. As entities, local government authorities are created to
consolidate and give powers to the local people to participate in planning and implementing
development programmes (Burns, 1994; Litvack et al., 1998). The local governments operate
under the leadership of councillors who are politically elected and bureaucrats, the
professionals, who are appointed to implement the policies. The theories on politico
administrative relations suggest that the councillors and bureaucrats do interact and their
interaction influence the formal structure. This influence can either strengthen or weaken the
relationship (Jacobsen, 2006).

Although the councillors and administrators need to cooperate in serving the communities, they
do not always do as expected. There are incidences which seem to indicate that the bureaucrats
undermine the councillors. In principle the councillors have a role to approve the plans or
agenda and the bureaucrats, on the other hand, prepare the plan or agenda and if the
councillors disapprove or change the agenda, the bureaucrats will not support the
implementation. Also the bureaucrats depend on councillors in case the implementation of plan
solely depends on community contribution. The main thesis of this research was therefore to
describe the nature of relationships that exists between bureaucrats and councillors in local
government authorities in the context of decentralisation by devolution in Tanzania. In doing
this, the case study design was viewed as appropriate. The findings from the two cases suggest
that the relations between politicians and administrators vary from one context to another. The
two cases portray a mixture of relations between the two politicians and administrators. Such
relations seem to incline within the three models (classical, village and adversarial) and
Mvomero case, in this research, seems to have more adversarial relations compared to
Kinondoni one. The explanation which may be used to support such a situation is the diverse
background in terms of education qualifications between the politicians and administrators in
Mvomero District Council rather than their political orientation.

ii

Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2561813

 Table of Contents
1. Abstract ......................................................................................................................................ii

Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................... iii

2. Introduction ................................................................................................................................1

3. Theoretical Framework ...............................................................................................................2

3.1 The concept of politico-administrative relations .........................................................................2

a) The classical model.....................................................................................................................5

b) Village model ..............................................................................................................................7

c) The adversarial model. ................................................................................................................8

3.1.4 Variables for describing and explaining PA relations ................................................................9

b) Explanation variables ................................................................................................................. 11

i) Perceptions ................................................................................................................................. 11

ii) Trust & Loyalty .......................................................................................................................... 13

iii) Power Resource & Bargain ........................................................................................................ 16

4. The Formal Arrangement of Politico-Administrative relations in Tanzanian LGAs ........................ 20

5.0 Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 22

5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 22

5.2 Research Design.......................................................................................................................... 22

5.3 Selection of cases .................................................................................................................... 23

5.4 Population and Sample Size ....................................................................................................... 23

5.5 Data Resources and Collection................................................................................................... 24

5.5.1 Interviews................................................................................................................................. 25

5.5.2 Observation.............................................................................................................................. 25

5.5.3 Focus group discussions (FGDs) ............................................................................................. 26

5.5.4 Documentary Review ............................................................................................................... 26

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5.5.5 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................................... 27

6.0 Mvomero case study ............................................................................................................... 28

6.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 28

6.2 Perceptions ............................................................................................................................. 28

6.2.1 Politicians’ perceptions about the administrators ........................................................................ 28

6.2.2 Perceptions of the administrators ............................................................................................... 32

6.2.3 Role and views of third party on politicians – administrative relationship in the council ............. 33

6.3 Trust and loyalty ..................................................................................................................... 35

6.4 Power resource ....................................................................................................................... 36

7.0 Kinondoni case study............................................................................................................... 39

7.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 39

7.2. Perceptions ............................................................................................................................ 39

7.2.1 Politicians’ perceptions about administrators.............................................................................. 39

7.2.2 Administrators’ Perceptions about the Councillors ..................................................................... 41

7.2.3 Influence of the third party ................................................................................................... 45

7.3 Trust and Loyalty ..................................................................................................................... 47

7.4 Power Resource& Bargain ....................................................................................................... 50

7.4.1 Politicians .................................................................................................................................. 50

7.4.2 Administrators ........................................................................................................................... 51

7.5 Summary ................................................................................................................................ 51

8. Cross case analysis .................................................................................................................... 53

8.1 Perception .............................................................................................................................. 53

8.2 Trust and Loyalty ..................................................................................................................... 53

8.3 Power and bargaining .............................................................................................................. 54

8.4 Power of decision making and the implementation of plans ..................................................... 54

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8.5 Interactions, Interventions and Conflicts .................................................................................. 55

9. Discussion of the findings .......................................................................................................... 56

9.1 Perception among and between politicians and administrators ................................................ 56

9.2 Trust& loyalty ......................................................................................................................... 57

9.2.1 The issue of competencies, ........................................................................................................ 59

9.3 Power& Bargain (Dominance in decision-making in the councils) .............................................. 59

10.0 Conclusion, interpretation and Recommendations ................................................................. 61

10.1 Conclusion............................................................................................................................. 61

10.2 Implications/ Interpretations ................................................................................................. 64

10.3 Recommendations................................................................................................................. 64

10.3 Limitations ............................................................................................................................ 65

10.4 Suggestions for future Research ............................................................................................. 66

References.................................................................................................................................... 67

Appendices ................................................................................................................................... 71

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2. Introduction
The movement for improving the performance of the government is the worldwide phenomenon.
Decentralisation is implemented in different forms in many governments. For the case of
Tanzania, decentralisation is enshrined in the constitution. Local government authorities (LGAs)
in Tanzania were created among other things to bring the government closer to people and
increase citizen participation in local elections and planning process (URT 1977). According to
formal institutions (Local Government Acts (Act No. 7, 8, and 9 of 1982) LGAs perform
functions of administration, maintain law and order, and implement economic and development
plans in their jurisdiction. The experience shows that the existing and emerging relationships
between the politicians and administrators have an impact on politico-administrative landscape
in LGAs (Pollit and Bouckaert, 2004).

It seems that if the politico-administrative relationship is well nurtured, this provides the
platform for the successful implementation of the development programmes in the localities. The
collaboration of local leaders (politicians) and street level bureaucrats (administrators) is
expected to ensure that the local authorities realise their objectives (Daily News-Tanzania,
August 28th, 2012). However, the dual level of authority overrules local government in staff
management issues and contradicts the allocation of tasks whereby some tasks which seem to
affect local governments are managed by the central government institutions. This goes hand in
hand with local governments’ dependence on central government in respect to financial matters.
Although decentralisation reforms aim at empowering local government committees and
councils to assume such roles as hiring, firing and making staff accountable to them, the
introduction of Public Service Act of 2002 has complicated the management of decentralised
staff. As a result, central government, through its ministries, pays staff; deals with staff transfers
and pay scales; and creates policies and professional development of senior staff (Tidemand &
Msami 2010). Therefore, lack of well cultivated relationship between the politicians and
administrators appears to be a stumbling block to LGAs initiatives for design and programme
implementation. The misunderstanding and mistrust between the councillors and the officials,
seems to fuel the growing conflicts in a number of LGAs in Tanzania (Lyatonga, 2006). (Leticia,
2008) quantifies the tensions existing in the LGAs that have resulted in suspension and dismissal
of some public servants in Mkuranga District, Arumeru District and Dodoma Municipal Council
but as well dissolving Dar es Salaam City Council in 2002. The relationship of the actors are
being in the state of association or affiliation depending on the existing or emerging
circumstances in the localities. In some cases the relationship may be tense to the extent of
frustrating the politico-administrative system at the localities. So the intention of this study was
to describe and explain the nature of relationships that exist between the administrators and
politicians in local government authorities. Specifically, the focus was on how does political-
administrative relationship look like in Tanzanian LGAs? What are the reasons for such
Political-administrative relationship? How different roles perception, trust and loyalty and
1
bargain and power relations affect their relationship? Who dominates the relationship? With the
aid of the three models –classic, village and adversarial, literature review, and the data collected
from Mvomero and Kinondoni councils the study attempts to provide the descriptions and
explanations of the political-administrative relationship in Tanzanian LGAs.

The following section conceptualises the political-administrative relations in which three models,
concepts, and variables are presented and clarified. The fourth section reflects on the formal
arrangement of politico-administrative relations in Tanzanian LGAs where as the fifth section is
about the methodology we employed in conducting this study. The methodological part describes
the study area (LGAs), research design, target population and sample size, data source and
collection techniques and data analysis approach. The sixth and seventh sections present
Mvomero and Kinondoni case study respectively under which each variable of the study is
examined. The thrust of the eighth section is on the comparison of the findings among two cases
under the study. It provides convergences and divergences on the nature the political-
administrative relationship in LGAs in Tanzania. The ninth section provides the detailed
descriptions and explanation (data analysis) of the political-administrative relationship in LGAs
in Tanzania. Data analysis is both deductive (guided by theoretical lens) and inductively (guided
by empirical data). The last section closes with research conclusion, interpretation and
recommendations, limitations and further areas for research

3. Theoretical Framework

3.1 The concept of politico-administrative relations

There are different approaches to conceptualise politico-administrative relations. However, in

this report we focus on three most commonly used approaches – the allocation of tasks
(Aberbach et al 1981), policy cycle (Svara, 1985& 1998) and modalities of relationship (Peters,
1987). The three are also called ‘theories of politico-administrative relations’ (Schreurs et al.,
2011). These approaches are discussed in the following sub-sections:

3.1.1 Allocation of tasks

Conceptualisation of politico-administrative relations based on the allocation of tasks focuses on
the way policies are formulated and put into practice (Schreurs et al, 2011). There have been
2
remarkable changes in the states’ public administration especially under the New Public
Management paradigm that have caused significant impacts on the landscape of politico-
administrative relations. In that context, the states’ politico-administrative relations can be
explained in terms of: (1) the traditional (classical) Weberian bureaucratic dichotomy form
(Weber, 1972) which implies that policies are developed by politicians and implemented by civil
servants (i.e. bureaucrats), a relationship which operates under strict separation of tasks and
without overlap in the functions; and (2) more hybrid types of working relationships (Aberbach
et al., 1981; Brans, 2003), where the roles of bureaucrats and politicians become more
interlinked rather than separated in the policy making and implementation (Schreurs et al., 2011).

In their theory, Aberbach et al. (1981) use the allocation of tasks as the basis for describing the
politico-administrative relations in public administration. They utilise four images to describe the
relationship between politicians and administrators focusing on who does what in the whole
process of designing public policy. They basically argue through their four illustrative images
that administration is the sole party authorised to implement public policy; and that is exactly
why they have placed the four images at the bottom of the axis for executing policy.

According to the authors, there are differences between the three images that arise from the
influence of both political executives and officials in developing policy. In image I –policy
administration, the authors argue that everything is done by the politicians and that bureaucrats
do not participate in policy development. Because of that, this image is positioned at the extreme
left corner overlapping with the Wilsonian or Weberian classical distinction (Wilson,
1887&1975; Weber 1972; cited in Schreurs et al., 2011:16). However, Aberbach et al. (1981)
argue that this is an unrealistic image because in the real world situation, it is impossible to have
such a total separation of roles as portrayed in this image. Image II concerns facts/interest. In this
one, the influence of the administration is higher than in the first image because of the input of
facts and knowledge that they provide in the policy development process. In image III –
energy/equilibrium, the authors argue that in addition to offering facts and knowledge to the
policy development process, administrators are also involved in the promotion of citizens’
interests. Finally in image IV – hybrid image, all the roles of politicians and bureaucrats
interlink. As a result there occurs a tendency towards ‘bureaucratisation of politics’ and
3
‘politicisation of administration’ (Schreurs et al., 2011:16). Generally, Aberbach et al. (1981)
describes the mandate for participation in the policy development stage as a continuum where
domination ranges from ‘sole politicians’ (at the extreme left) towards ‘doing all together’,
which is situated at the centre of the typology as indicated in figure 1.

31.2 Policy cycle

This is the second basis on which politico-administrative relations can be conceptualised. Under
this, we specifically refer to Svara’s dichotomy – duality model (1985) which was based on the
policy cycle. In his model, he made a distinction of four areas: mission, policy, administration
and management. Schreurs et al., (2011) use the four spheres by grouping them into two; the first
two (i.e. mission and policy) denoting developing policy and the other two (administration and
management) executing policy. According to Svara (1985), the roles in the mission and policy
phase are predominantly allocated to politicians while those in the administration and
management phase are more to the administrators. The author emphasizes (in p.224) that
responsibility for the extreme functions is at large dichotomized, that is, mission is the principal
responsibility for the politicians whereas the control of the administration is more conspicuous
in the management functions. Yet, the activities to a larger extent shared between politicians and
bureaucrats in the spheres of policy and administration. The fact that developing policy is mainly
a task for the politicians and implementing policy a task for bureaucrats, the model is positioned
more towards the middle as opposed to the extremes positions of the quadrant at the bottom left
as shown in figure 1.

4
Figure 1: Theories of politico-administrative relations
Source: Schreurs et al. (2011:16).
Key: POL – Political executives (politicians); SCS – Senior Civil Servants (bureaucrats).

3.1.3 Modalities of relations

a) The classical model

Under this model, decision-making is completely dominated by politicians. For example,

agenda, proposals, decisions, and control over the implementation of policies is not on the basis
of legitimacy and loyalty, but on the basis of political resources, competence to hire and fire
administrators and grass root support. According to Schreurs et al. (2011) Politicians are very
powerful in this model and they dictate everything to be done by administrators. Sometimes
administrators are strong and have more power than politicians. Consequently, it leads to
administrators’ dominance. Similarly, the Rational, Legal, Charismatic and
Professional Authority model by Weber (2006) shows that, in this relation decision making is
completely dominated by politicians (agenda, proposals, decisions, and control over
implementation). Administrators carry out decisions made by politicians; acknowledgement of

5
 political legitimacy, formal decision-making competence of politicians and loyalty of
administrators are the basis of this relationship.

The key element of the classical model is the separation between politics and administration.
Weber and Wilson were both interested in the protection of the administrators from political
whims: the execution of political decisions could only be guaranteed if this would take place by
competent and neutral administrators, appointed on the basis of their skills and knowledge,
applying strict procedures. Politicians should not interfere in the neutral execution of policies
(Campbell and Peters, 1988; Rosenbloom 2008). Both Weber and Wilson fought the personal
and political patronage aspects of the bureaucracies of their time and promoted impersonal,
neutral and competent administration. They subscribed to the principle that politicians are solely
responsible for policy decisions and that administrators should implement these decisions
loyally, but also that administrators should have their own domain, independent powers and
discretion, and that politicians should not interfere in the neutral execution of policies. In later
interpretations of the classical model, the emphasis shifted to the powers of the politicians and to
the fact that administrators should loyally execute policy decisions and not involve themselves in
policy development.

The classical Weberian or Wilsonian model was criticised over time, because it did not
realistically describe actual role definitions of politicians and administrators
(Aberbach&Rockman, 1988). Other authors introduced more elaborate models, however
preserving the main idea of a separation between the domains of politicians and administrators.
The so called image II as constructed by Aberbach, Putnam and Rockman (1981) allowed for
contributions of administrators to policy development, but these were to be restricted to
providing relevant facts and knowledge (Campbell & Peters, 1988; Schreurs et. al., 2011). Svara
(1985) distinguished four spheres (mission, policy, administration and management) where the
mission was seen as the predominant political responsibility and manage the prominent
responsibility of administrators. In policy and administration activities would be shared, albeit
with more involvement of politicians in policy development and more involvement of
administrators in the administration.

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The classical model and its more elaborate versions have a number of features in common: a
separation between the prime responsibilities of politicians and administrators, where politicians
bear responsibility for policy decisions and administrators are the loyal executors of these
decisions; the dominance of politicians is based on their political legitimacy as democratically
elected officials who represent the interests of the people; but political dominance is not absolute
as to make administrators the unresisting instruments of politicians; administrators have their
own responsibility and discretionary power, based on their technical expertise and knowledge of
legislation and formal procedures. This model, then, supposedly suggests the existence of low
degree of interaction between the two parties. Thus, politicians and administrators are not
expected to generally interfere in the activities of the other. In practice such a separation of roles
for both parties is possible when the clear perception of and respect for each other roles exist.
This needs to be supported with the clear separation of roles, mutual respect and trust between
the politicians and administrators

b) Village model

In this model, both politicians and administrators work together (agenda, proposals, decisions,
control over implementation); both use their competences and powers for better implementation
of their plans and they trust each other. According to Schreurs et al. (2011) the village
partnership implies that, all the politicians with all their legitimate power backed up with laws
still find it difficult to override the well equipped technically bureaucrats. So this pinpoints that
under this circumstance all parts have power to decide on matters regarding the running of the
council.

In Village Model, Key words: overlapping jurisdictions, shared values, trust, and equilibrium.
The term ‘village’ does not refer to cooperative relationships in small communities, but to the
fact that politicians and administrators together form a closed community. Members of this
community are the elites of the society; they share norms and values because they have common
goals (Peters, 1995). Mutual trust is one of the features of the relationship (Hood & Lodge,
2006): without mutual trust and respect there can be no fruitful cooperation. Role switching -
7
politicians becoming administrators, administrators becoming politicians - occurs with some
frequency (Nieuwenkamp, 2001: 53, citing Gournay and Mayntz, 1984). The model also implies
that there is no sharp distinction between the political and administrative sphere: administrators
engage in discussions about political priorities and strategies, politicians are allowed to give their
opinion on the implementation of political decisions; both politicians and administrators can
fulfil the role of interest brokers between different social groups. In terms of dominance:
politicians and administrators more or less operate on the basis of equality. The outside world is
the enemy: in the case of local government that would be central government, foreign NGO’s
etc.

The village model has some elements in common with types introduced by Aberbach et al.
(1981), the so called images III and IV: also in these ideal types, there is no sharp distinction
between the role of politicians and administrators. In image III administrators do not only offer
facts and knowledge in the policy development process (as is the case in image II presented by
Aberbach et al, 1981), they are also involved in the promotion of citizens’ interests. In image IV
the domains of politicians and administrators overlap to a great extent.

The village model and its associates share a number of features. Politicians and administrators
operate as members of a community of elites who cooperate to produce policies and services to
their constituency. There is no clear separation of responsibilities and no structurally dominant
actor. The members of the elite share key values. The village model presupposes mutual trust
and respect and the loyal implementation of the decisions which are the outcome of common
decision making. Thus, this model presupposes - high degree of interactions and fewer
interventions, hence minimal or no conflicts at all.

c) The adversarial model.

This model assumes that politicians and administrators are structurally engaged in a struggle for
power, in which both politicians and administrators try to gain or keep control over the policy
sector; politicians trying to impose their policy priorities and administrators trying to protect
existing policies and procedures. Conflicts occur because top administrators have political

8
affiliations which sometimes do not coincide with those of the governing party (Peters, 1995;
Aberbach & Rockman, 1976).

The adversarial model, as presented by Peters, shares a number of features with public choice
theories about public bureaucracies as developed by Downs (1967), Niskanen (1971) and
Buchanan (1978). The key assumption is that both politicians and administrators have their own
individual interests and strive to maximise these. For politicians it all comes down to maximising
votes and winning elections, as this will provide them with positions which will render all kinds
of personal benefits like prestige and power (Downs, 1967 cited by Nieuwenkamp, 2001: 40-41).
The Personal interests of administrators include salary, prerogatives pertaining to the office,
reputation, power and patronage. Niskanen assumes that administrators strive to maximise the
budget of their bureau, because large budgets will enable them to realise their personal interests
(Niskanen, 1971 cited by Nieuwenkamp, 2001: 41). Being characterised with low trust as well as
low loyalty, there is a likelihood of conflicts between the administrators and politicians in this
model.

3.1.4 Variables for describing and explaining PA relations

The relationships between politicians and administrators in the social environment can be
described and explained by a number of variables. For the description purpose, this study
concentrated on such variables as interaction, intervention and harmony/conflict. For the
explanation purpose, the variables are perception, trust & loyalty and Power resource &
bargaining in the context of political affiliations and decentralisation.

a) Description Variables

The triangle below provides an appealing approach with variables that can explicitly describe
the PA relations in the Local Government Authorities (LGAs). As mentioned above such
variables include interaction, intervention and harmony/conflict. The variables are captured
within the three ideal types (models): Classical, Village and Adversarial.

9
Figure 2: An illustration of the three politico-administrative models

The illustration above tries to show what is ought to be happening in the ideal type. Sometimes it
may come close to the ideal type which could not exist in the real world situations. To model the
variation in politico-administrative interaction patterns described above, one can use a triangle.
Each of the angles of the triangle indicates an ideal interaction type. On the basis of empirical
research, one may locate a real world situation somewhere in the triangle.

The ideal type of the classical model depicts a situation in which low degrees of intervention
(interference) and interaction (cooperation) go hand in hand with a low number of conflicts
between politicians and administrators. The ideal type of the village model depicts high degrees
of interaction and intervention and low degrees of conflicts between the two parties. The third
ideal type, the adversarial model, portrays low degrees of interaction and high degrees of
intervention and a relatively high level of conflicts.

10
The degree of interaction, between councillors and administration, refers to the intensity of their
cooperation in the course of the day to day decision making process and the implementation of
decisions, programs and policies. The degree of intervention, meaning the degree councillors and
administrators interfere in each other’s domain. The degree of conflicts connotes the degree of
irritation, rows and disputes between them. In order to be able to explain the relations between
councillors and administrators we looked at their mutual perceptions and the extent of mutual
trust and loyalty between them that create the basis of power for bargaining on matters
concerning the councils

b) Explanation variables
There could be many variables to explain the PA relations in the LGAs but this research
considered as the following variables: perception, trust and loyalty and power resource and
bargain

i) Perceptions
Perception is a process by which individuals organize and interpret the sensory impressions in
order to give meaning to their environment (Robbins, 2005). Luthans (2005) also defines
Perception as an important mediating cognitive process through which persons make
interpretations of the stimulus or situation. Furthermore, perception can be defined as the process
of receiving, selecting, organizing, checking and reacting to sensory stimuli or data (Udai Pareek
at el., 2007)

The influence of perception is based on self perceiving, the expectations in the situation someone
lives. So the dimensions under which perception can be discussed include selective/role
perception, hallo effects, projection, contrast effects and stereotypes and performance
expectations as well as in the working place.

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According to Schreurs et al ,2011the political executive knows that the power base is absolutely
at his or her side. So this refers to selective/role perception. However, the public servants can be
witty or critical to the policy lines of the political executives. The role of the public servants is
very confined in this situation. The civil servants are expected to be loyal to the ruling group
political executive. They must accept the lines of control and the given authority structure. These
have something to do hallo effects and stereo types.

Moreover, Schreurs et al. (2011) note that politicians do dwell on the ability of administrators to
execute their decisions (policy line) in the given situation. Hood & Lodge (2006: 98) provide
highlights on the current circumspect in reference to New Public Management Era that public
servant are increasing their skills and knowledge in the management discipline. So literally civil
servants are expected to have the ability to make things happen on their own or by working with
others in the ways that are not fully prescribed in some manual. The innovation and creativity
ability to find answers to problem or issues at hand are underlined by the politicians or that is
how they perceive or want the administrators to be or have. Administrators should have a
considerable technical know-how to be able to interpret what must be done and how.

Hinton and Kerrigan (1989) insist that Managers (Administrators) should have the skills to do
situational analysis, assess community needs, handle interpersonal relations and have bargaining
&negotiating skills, and other consensus-seeking techniques

Furthermore, John Nalbandian, 2006 in his study on political – administrative relation in local
government, under the title, how politics and administration intersect in the City management,
provides expanded expectations by politicians to the administrators. He says from findings that
administrators have to act on what is politically acceptable and what is administratively feasible.
Basically administrators have to facilitate the connection. So these might be stereo types or hallo
effects if things are presumably situational.

12
 The key word is facilitating. But others are appropriate as well. The manager “convenes,”
“builds bridges,” and creates “intersections.” In all of this, the manager must remain
politically sensitive but politically non-aligned.

A very touching thing is that there are adverse consequences if administrators happen to align
with politics. John Nalbandian says the bureaucrats run the risk of losing their job or disrupting
their reputations if they are politically insensitive. On the other hand, internally, the modern local
government is expected to be diverse given the variety of services it provides and in the expertise
necessary to provide the services.

The messages in the above literature show clearly how perception under the dimensions of
selective/role perception, stereotypes, hallo effects and performance expectations.etc affect
the political administrative relationships in the political – administrative environment and for
this matter, the local council settings.

Lessons are learned; Schreurs et al, 2011 and John Nalbandian have underscored the political
dominance in terms of how they want the administrators to behave and do. Again politicians and
bureaucrats have expectations, thus, in a way there must be agreement. So what determines the
relationships between the two is the subject matter at hand or the situations prevailing, hence
reflecting either of the typologies mentioned above. Thus the perceptions built under the
mentioned dimensions create the bases for trust and loyalty existing between politicians and
administrators. Trust and loyalty determine power to bargain and portray the dominance in the
decision making and hence this chain has a great effect on the relationships between politicians
and bureaucrats.

ii) Trust & Loyalty

By definition, trust means a belief in someone or some group – a belief that they will be reliable,
will not harm you, will do what they say they will do and will be there for you; and loyalty
means faithfulness to someone or some group. In this study, trust and loyalty are reviewed under

13
the following dimensions, intentions, honest, appropriate channels of communication, offering
acknowledgement and praise often for nice works, walking the talks and competences as well.

According to Schreurs et al. (2011), the first - and often argued most important - condition is
mutual trust and loyalty. Politicians and civil servants cannot work together unless trust rules in
their interaction. Trust is important in every situation , it builds on what someone perceives to be
okay, but it is a very fundamental phenomena in power bargain and decision making process.

There should be good intentions and honesty between Politicians and Bureaucrats in order to
fulfill expectations from each side. Nieuwenkamp (2001) says it is the expectation of one party
that the other party will adhere to the norms and values they share. The mutual aspect has to be
underlined as well. Trust has to come from both sides of the relationship. In case one actor,
whether political executives or civil servants, acts in an untruthful manner towards the other
party; s/he runs the risk of disloyal counteraction. These so-called tit-for-tat actions create an
undesirable, self reinforcing situation which risks the relationship and push it into a downward
spiral. John Nalbandian used his psychological contract model to explain the same situation also.

Furthermore, Mutual trust in concrete means that the political executive and civil servants can
expect from each other that they are loyal, confident with the stream of information, open about
the goals, avoid hidden agenda’s or expedient action, do not hide information or provide wrong
information, and are competent to carry out a job (Nieuwenkamp, 2001 in Schreurs et al., 2011:
27-28).

As explained above the dimensions affect trust and loyalty in Public Administrative Relations
between politicians and bureaucrats in the local governments. Other dimensions such as
appropriate communication channels, “face time” talking, offering acknowledgment and praise,
walking the talks as well as competencies do have a lot to contribute in the relations under the
study.

14
 To avoid hidden information or wrong information then there must be clear chosen
communication channel to minimise interruptions, where the need in face to face,
dialogue may be used to get the right information. For sure there cannot be trust and
loyalty if the two parties cannot walk the talks or decisions agreed between them.

Schreurs et al. (2011:35), it is argued that the politico-administrative relation will be optimised
when public servants possess some essential competencies. But what competencies are decisive?
-studying the competency dimension of the public services bargains (Hood & Lodge, 2006: 86-
108) provide answer.

Competences of both civil servants and politicians are required for good relations.
Competencies have to be regarded in a very broad sense. They are not only concern with
what the public servant has or needs to have in terms of skills, experience or ability, but
certain attitude

Very potentially, it is vividly seen how important trust and loyalty is in building the relationship
among the councilors and administrators themselves or between the politicians and bureaucrats.
Definitely trust and loyalty are the heart of a relationship in place, nevertheless, the question still
comes out that how sure that both sides trust and are loyal to each other? The literature tells, each
side has expectations, wishes, intentions, ambitions etc which may be embedded in different
directions. Politicians (Councilors) do have dreams, wishes, stories, and promises to accomplish
so are the administrators (Bureaucrats). However administrators fostered theirs in terms of plans
and priorities of the councils which may not necessarily be in line with those of the politicians.
Given this circumstance, negations may occur, hence affecting the trust between the two parts
and as a consequence the entire relationship is affected too. Thus it is still unpredictable
phenomena by which the findings of this study ought to enlighten the readers of what is exactly
happening in Tanzania.

15
 iii) Power Resource & Bargain

Power in politics and social science context, refers to the ability to influence the behaviour of
people. The term authority is often used for power perceived as legitimate by the social structure.
Power can be seen as evil or unjust, but the exercise of power is accepted as endemic to humans
as social beings. In the corporate environment, power is often expressed as upward or downward.
With downward power, a superior influences subordinates. When a company exerts upward
power, it is the subordinates who influence the decisions of the leader (Greiner & Schein, 1988).

Schreurs et al (2011), in their study on political – administrative relation to top civil services,
said that in the political dominance, politicians are very powerful and dictate everything to be
done. This seems to imply that the administrative independence is low, because of the close
watch of the political executive in the administration and the strict instructions they offer hence
high political control.

Regularly political executives do expect the civil servants to have some political feeling for
strategic purposes, so the level of education and experiences have great impact on the intuitions
and competences to be possessed by either politicians or bureaucrats.

In this regard, the literature informs that the power, politicians pose, is due to the positions they
have in the council. This refers to the legitimate power which is supported by the statutory right
according to stipulations of the laws of the country or the backup of the people or the
constituencies they represent.

So politicians use their legitimate power to influence the decisions. This literally shows that
politicians have high bargaining power. Hood and Lodge (2006) say in negotiating, bargain is
capacity of one party to dominate the other due to its influence, power, size, or status, or through
a combination of different persuasion tactics.

16
Administrative dominance is the opposite of the political one. In this category of dominance,
administrators assume power in low political control and high administrative independence.
Freya at el. (2011) provided that civil servants back out of the eye of politics and hold on to the
helm. So the power base for administrators is the technical expertise they have.

It is assumed that since the technical know-how for the implementation of council plans lies on
the hands of bureaucrats then politicians have no way rather than being patient and provide
support where needed. Therefore such power is what is called technical/knowledge power

Laissez-faire or political impasse are assumed to occur though less often or not at all. This refers
to a situation where neither the politicians nor the bureaucrats have power to decide on matters
pertaining the running the council. The picture portrayed here means that both political control
and bureaucratic independency are low. Does this situation exist in the Tanzanian context? The
answers will be obtained in the study findings.
Another scenario is when all the politicians with all their legitimate power backed up with laws
still find it difficult to override the well equipped technically bureaucrats. So this pin points that
under this circumstance all parts have power to decide on matters regarding the running of the
council. Therefore, in order to make things happen there must agreement hence calls for village
partnership (Peters, 1987)

The village model advocates that both political executives and civil servants are dominant
because they have mutual respect: political executives do respect the expertise and knowledge of
the Local officials and these officials in return value political priorities and they are loyal.
According to Svara (1985), this is the most desirable situation as it is equivalent to the functional
village life or village life modeled by Peters (1987).

On the other hand, Schreurs et al. (2011) have the view that both politicians and bureaucrats
must have the ability to judge political positions as well as use intuition to evaluate political risk
and to think forward by not only drawing on rational sense, but also political sense. This ability
is required in forming political coalitions. (Hood & Lodge, 2006: 101-102). So public servants

17
need technical competencies, however technical knowledge alone is not sufficient. Thus, the
need for a political intuition to assess a situation in the future is of great importance as well. The
civil servants are also expected to have a moral insight on which the notions of their policy lines
are based.

Moreover, John Nalbandian ( 2006) notes that the power of advocacy, whether voiced by council
members, the professional staff, or citizens lies with an ability to voice arguments in terms of the
values in place even if the values themselves are not named. The identified values are
Efficiency: efficiency is not only connected to the prudent use of resources. It also
connects to professionalism and rational, analytical thinking.

Representation: is based on the understanding that elected officials represent citizens. It

is what leads citizens to think that their elected officials will listen to them.

Social Equity: is based fundamentally on the belief that there shall be no second-class
citizens and that services shall be provided fairly. Council members realise very quickly
in their terms that citizens frequently judge what is fair by lumping themselves into some
group and then comparing their situation to that of another group.

Individual Rights: these generally focus on property rights or civil rights. Individual
rights are protected by law, and as such they can trump the other values. The emphasis is
on due process of government’s work that goes beyond the judiciary and reflects the way
this value has penetrated the thinking of government officials. It is designed to prevent
capricious and arbitrary government action.

Hood & Lodge (2006), as noted in Schreurs at el. (2011), provided that politicians and
bureaucrats should have the ability to move between different ‘worlds. They should think
‘outside the box’. Hood and Lodge further stated that the contemporary society needs efficient
networking and this can be achieved if the level of education and experience is adequate for both

18
parties (politicians and bureaucrats). To clarify more, John Nalbandian, through the use of
Constellations of Political and Administrative Logic states clearly how educational level creates
a gap between politicians and administrators. According to him the contemporary diversity
among councils made governing more challenging.

John further argues that the staff proficiency has nothing to do with who is working now for
government compared to their predecessors. It has to do with the education and tools available to
them. The simplest example we can give to make this point has to do with the revenue
projections. The revenue projection techniques today are far more powerful than they were a
generation ago. The staffs are better educated, but the tools are better as well.

Potentially, another dimension related to power is Distance. This is seen in two ways, first is the
length of kilometres between the council headquarters and the wards and the communication
media in place to access information. Likewise distance can be looked in terms of interpersonal
relations between councilors themselves and staffs. Again the interpersonal relations among the
bureaucrats in the council matter in the effective functioning of the Local Authorities. This
phenomenon has been explained in other variables above. Thus, Hood & Lodge (2006) explore
reward, competency and loyalty as key dimensions of public service bargains. Bargaining can
also be linked to political affiliation in the era of multiparty system. Freya et al. (2011) assert
that the general need of the contemporary political environment requires an intuitive skill in
political counsel whereby one is able to look at the political situations in an unpredictable or
unconventional way.

Thus the knowledge accrued above is quite enough to say that legitimacy, level of expertise, and
the support from the constituencies highly influences the decision making process. Nevertheless,
the literature suggests that still the situation determines who is ahead the other and for what
reasons. Hood and Lodge (2006) among other things see loyalty as one of the factors that
determine the bargaining power. This concept has motivated us to review another variable (Trust
and Loyalty) to provide a further understanding of the political – administrative relations in the
local Government Authorities in Tanzania.

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4. The Formal Arrangement of Politico-Administrative relations in Tanzanian LGAs
The legal framework mandates politicians as policy makers and the administrators as the
implementers of the policies and plans. In the Tanzanian Local Government (District
Authorities) Act No. 7 of 1982, the mandates are provided under section 118 (1) (a) and (b)
which charges the politicians (councillors) with the function of formulating, coordinating and
supervising the implementation of the district’s economic, commercial, industrial and social
development plans; and monitoring and controlling the performance of departmental bureaucrats
who are the key implementers of the council decisions. The councillors as the representative of
the people are expected to have internal and external relation with the staff, the people they are
representing, the MP and the private sectors, URT (2010). On the other hand the bureaucrats are
mandated to give advice to councilors when making council and committee decisions and to
carry out the council’s day to day functions in accordance with strategies and decisions of the
council.

In order to enable the councils to discharge their functions effectively, the law requires them to
establish standing committees. The number of legally stipulated standing committees varies
between the urban and district authorities. While Act No.8 – the Local Government (Urban
Authorities) Act, 1982 section 42 (1) (a) – (f) stipulates establishment of six standing
committees; Act No. 7 – the Local Government (District Authorities) Act, 1982 under section 74
(a) – (d) requires each district council to establish four standing committees. The standing
committees for the urban authorities that are prescribed in the law are responsible for
administration and finance, urban planning, public health, education and culture, works, and
trade and economic affairs. For the district authorities, the legally established standing
committees are four: finance and planning, social services, educational affairs and economic
services. However, the law does not restrict the number of standing committees; rather it allows
the urban and district councils to establish other standing and non-standing committees that they
deem appropriate to suit their particular operating contexts. This is indicated in both legislations
(Act No.7 and Act No.8).
Any district council may establish such other standing committee or other committees as
in its opinion is or are necessary or expedient for the better performance of the functions

20
 and efficient management of the affairs and business of the district council [S. 76 (1) of
Act No. 7].

An urban authority may establish such other standing or occasional committees as it

may from time to time determine for purposes of examining and reporting on any matter
or of discharging any functions of the authority delegated to them under this Act, or,
generally, as it may deem necessary or desirable for the better performance of the
functions and efficient management of the affairs and business of the authority. [S. 44(1)
of Act No. 8].

The law leaves substantial discretion to the councils with respect to the number of members and
who can become members of these committees. In Act No. 7, for example, S. 76 (2) stipulates
that the number of members of a standing or other committee shall from time to time be
determined by the council; and [S. 76 (3)] any legally appointed committee under this legal
provision may include persons who are not members of the district council appointed by the
council or by the committee. The law stipulates that all co-opted persons shall have and exercise
rights and powers in all respects in relation to the business of the committee in the same way as
the appointed members do. However, despite the amount of discretion left to the councils with
regards to the membership and composition of the standing and other committees, the law puts
some restrictions. These are particularly stipulated in Act No. 7 regarding conditions for
membership to and composition of the standing committees for administration and finance and
educational affairs. Committee election and operation procedures will continue to be governed
by the existing laws and regulations. The law specifies that membership to these committees is
restricted to the members of council and that the composition of not less than two thirds of the
members of the council as captured in the quote below:
No person other than a member of the district council shall be a member of a standing
committee for finance and administration or a standing committee for educational
affairs, or any of their sub-committees [S.76 (4) (a)]; and each standing committee, save
for the standing committee for finance and administration and the standing committee for
educational affairs, shall consist of not less than two thirds of the members of the district
council [S. 76 (4) (b)].

The council may delegate their responsibilities to standing committees which are elected by
council from their members. However, passing budget, amendment of the budget, passing
development plans or making bye-laws cannot be delegated by council (URT, 1998).

21
There will be a code of conduct as noted in the Councilors hand book, URT, 2010- chapter 3&5
to regulating the behaviour of councillors and staff and their relations. Code of conduct prohibits
the councilors from interfering in the administration of the council unless the council has given
the councilor a mandate. The same applies to instructing any employee of the council without
authorization. Councilors may not obstruct the implementation of any council or committee
decision or behave in such a way that would contribute to maladministration in the council. It is a
criminal offence for a councilors to attempts to influence the director, any other staff member or
an agent of a council not to enforce an obligation in terms of the systems Act, other legislation, a
by-law or a council decisions. The offence is punished by a fine or imprisonment of up to two
years

5.0 Methodology

5.1 Introduction

The section provides a description of the methodology used in addressing the study problem.
Research design, study population and sample, data collection approaches and analysis
techniques were described. In short the section highlight the procedures used to collect, analyze
and interpret data with the aim of gaining knowledge on Political and Administration relations
at the local government Authorities in Tanzania.

5.2 Research Design

Research design refers to the overall master plan of a research that throws light on how the study
is conducted. According to Mouton (1996) the research design serves to "plan, structure and
execute" the research to maximize the "validity of the findings". It gives directions from the
underlying philosophical assumptions to research design, and data collection. Yin (2003) adds
further that “colloquially a research design is an action plan for getting from here to there, where
‘here’ may be defined as the initial set of questions to be answered and ‘there’ is some set of
(conclusions) answers” (p. 19).

Case study design was considered useful to guide the study. Yin (1994), advised to use case
study when the focus is on contemporary phenomena within its real life context. According to

22
McMillan and Schumacher (2001), a case study examines a —bounded system or a case in
detail, employing multiple sources of data found in the setting. The case study methodology was
considered the most appropriate approach to employ because it provides a systematic way to
collect data, analyze information, and report the results, thus understand a particular problem or
situation in great depth. It also provides a variety of participant perspectives; multiple data
collection techniques are used and examine integration of e-learning and face-to-face
instructional approaches within a technology rich environment.

The study employed qualitative approaches to obtaining relevant data and analyses of the results.
Qualitative approach in a social science research seeks to explain social phenomena bases on the
quality of the data. The approach is preferred since the phenomenon of the study rests better to
qualitative scrutiny in which research scientists must gain an empathic understanding of social
phenomena, and they must recognize both the historical dimension of human behavior and the
subjective aspects of human experience. (Nachmias and Nachmias, 1996).

5.3 Selection of cases

The research team selected two councils of Kinondoni Municipal Council (KMC) in Dar es
Salaam City and Mvomero District Council (MDC) in Morogoro region in carrying out the
research. The selection process based on the fact thatKMC is in urban setting and specifically in
the big city of Dar es Salaam in which the literacy level is presumably high compare to that of
MDC which is in the Rural setting where we assumed the literacy level is low. Hence having a
comparison between the two cases ought to have a significant reflection of the current status of
the existing Political Administrative relations in the Local Government Authorities in Tanzania.

5.4 Population and Sample Size

The population of the study includes all politicians and administrators of MDC and KMC to
ensure that important and relevant segments of the population were incorporated in the study. A
study sample was selected in KMC and MDC. A sample is a subset of sampling components
from a population of the study (Nachmias and Nachmias, 1996). Similarly, qualitative research
aimed to gain a complete understanding of the topic under investigation and insist sampling of
participants with particular experience (Hennink, 2011:84). For this case, purposive and
23
accidental sampling techniques were used to select the participants of this study the former being
mainly more applied than the latter. The reason behind the decided approach is to enable the
researchers to obtain data from relevant respondents and to avoid biased selection of the sample.
Based on the above fact, a sample of the study includes the Councilors, Council Chairperson,
Members of the Parliament and the District Commissioner as the politicians and the
Administrators include the directors, Head of Department and District Administrative
Secretaries.

In qualitative research it is difficult to predict accurately the sample size of the study. It has been
shown that the sample size is large enough when the researcher is satisfied with the data
obtained, that it is rich enough and covers sufficiently the dimensions they are interested in
(Liamputtong, 1999:49). Moreover, the numbers of respondents recruited in a qualitative study is
guided by the theoretical principle of saturation (Hennink, 2011:84, 88). Saturation is the point at
which the information collected begins to repeat itself. The sample size selected for the study
was influenced by the principles of saturation and a total of 37 participants were recruited. These
include 19 politicians and 18 administrators.

5.5 Data Resources and Collection

Data collection process adopted triangulation techniques that it employs multiple methods. The
justification for opting for a multi-method data collection approach in this study is to increase
reliability and validity of the findings and to confirm measures (Berg, B.L (2004). It also
increases the possibility to capture some feelings and perceptions from the individuals.
Triangulation is restricted to the use of multiple data gathering techniques usually three to
investigate the same phenomena (Berg, B. L. (2004). The researchers used both primary and
secondary data collection methods. Primary data collection methods include interviews, Focused
Group Discussion (FGD) and observation while secondary data collection method was
documentary review. All four methods were used to collect data on the same problem with the
purpose of complimenting each other. According to Yin (1994) a good case will want to use as
many sources as possible to verify reliability of data from different sources.

24
5.5.1 Interviews
Interview was the main source of data used to collect data first-hand information that involve
discussion of interviewer and interviewee on specific topic in-depth. Hennink et al (2011)
describe interview as a conversation with a purpose of gaining insight into a P-A relation.
Interviews attempt to capture things that we cannot capture through other methods like
observation. The method will provide more detail about individuals’ understanding and practice
concerning individual Bureaucrats and Councilors (Liamputtong, 1999:71). The interviews were
used to seek Bureaucrats and Councilors personal experience in day to day functioning of the
council. Semi structured in depth interview was used to allow probing for more information and
to collect comprehensive and complete data. The interview guide was used and the key issues
raised in the first interviews were used to probe in the following interviews. The interview guide
used was the same but small changes were made to refine the questions and adding a probe. The
interviewer may note down key issues on the interview guide and use them as a new topic probes
in the next interview (Hennink, 2011).

A total of thirty two participants were interviewed, that is nineteen Politicians and eighteen
Bureaucrats. Both English and Swahili language were used depending on the preference of the
interviewees. Both face to face and telephone interview were adopted because some of the
participants (interviewees) were difficult to get for face to face interviews. Sampling was
therefore largely purposive.

5.5.2 Observation
Observation is frequently used as a source of information in case study research. Unlike
interviews, which rely on people’s bias, perceptions and recollections of events, observations of
the setting by a case study researcher may provide more objective information related to the
research topic (Hancock& Algozzine,2006). Observation is a method that enables researchers to
systematically observe and record people’s behavior, actions and interactions (Hennink, 2011).
The method was used to obtain the detailed behavior of bureaucrats and Councilors in the
decision making and to determine their relationship. The method involved watching, listening
and recording people’s behavior, expression and interaction (Hennink, 2011:170). The
researchers observed two council meetings at Mvomero in February, 2013 for the purpose of

25
seeing the interaction of the bureaucrats and Councilors in the decision making process. The
method was used to identify silent norms and values of bureaucrats and Councilors in the council
which in one way or another affect their relationship.

5.5.3 Focus group discussions (FGDs)

A focus group is a small and similar group of people intended for gathering data for a particular
research topic through collaborative discussion. It is interactive discussion between selected
participants led by a trained moderator and focusing on a specific set of issues (Hennink, 2011).
Focus groups allow the researcher to interact directly with respondents and provide the
opportunities to clarify the responses, ask follow-up questions, and probing of responses. FGD
gives a chance to researcher to observe nonverbal responses such as gestures, smiles, frowns, and
so forth, which may carry information that supplements and on occasion even contradicts the
verbal response. Moreover, FGD allow researchers to access the substantive content of verbally
expressed views, opinion, experiment and attitude.

Concerning number of people to include in the FGD, different suggestions were made by the
scholars. Some of these include Hennink (2011) who suggest a group size of six to eight,
Krueger (1994) suggests that for the discussion of complex problem the group should not be
more than seven and Bloor et.al (2001) who suggests a group of six to eight participants.
However, the selection of group size would depend on the moderators choice taking into account
the participants will be free and confident to share their experiences.

The researchers selected five Councilors in Mvomero DC who were ready for FGDs. The FGD
was done using the discussion guide with a list of issues to discuss. The discussion guide
includes issues to introduce, opening question of the discussion, key questions and closing
questions. However, it was difficult to get councilors FGD in Kinondoni districtsand staff for
FGD because they were busy with other tasks. More interviews were done with staff in the two
cases to get their views and opinions.

5.5.4 Documentary Review

Documentary review is a commonly used method in case study research. It is the major
instrument of collecting secondary data (Hancock & Algozzine, 2006). A wide range of written
26
materials in organizations may serve as a valuable source of data (Curry et al, 2009). According
to Yin (1994) documents plays an important role in any data collection in any case to
complement other methods and to augment evidence of other sources. Documentary review
includes analyzing documents such as council implementation reports, minutes from committee
and council meetings, attendance records and employment and financial records. It can also
involve analyzing policy documents and legislation. In these respects, a documentary review can
yield both quantitative and qualitative textual data. The classification enables the researcher to
make inferences about the antecedents of a communication, to describe and make inferences
about characteristics of a communication and to make inferences about the effects of a
communication (Curry et al, 2009). For this study, minutes of committee and council meetings
were reviewed to obtain secondary data. The purpose was to solicited information on PA
relations in the council.

5.5.5 Data Analysis

Different approaches can be used to analyze qualitative data such as discourse analysis, content
analysis, thematic analysis, biographical and narrative analysis (Hennink, 2011). Yet, the most
obvious way to analyze text data is content analysis (Berg, B. L. (2004). Content analysis is a set
of methods for investigating the symbolic content of communication and can be used to analyse
various types of data (Lalika, &Machangu 2007). Miles and Huberman (1994) identify three
major approaches to analyse qualitative data: interpretative approaches, social anthropological
approaches and collaborative social research approaches. The collaborative social research
approaches was used to analyse interviews transcripts and texts. Moreover, the coding manual
may have an additional field for taking notes as coding proceeds and new themes and concepts
that have emerged can be added to the coding manual (Zhang, 1966).

Data collected and analysed separately using case by case analysis and cross case analysis was
made to compare the two cases. Verbal data (interviews, observation and FGD) were written into
text and grouped according to the themes and analyzed using content analysis. The analysis
involve steps such as transcribing verbal data into text, developing codes analytically or
inductively identifying codes from the data, transform codes into themes, and categorize
materials. In addition, similar phrases and relationships were identified and sorted to identify

27
meaningful pattern of data. Conclusion was made in light of past research and theories taking
into account the differences and similarities two case findings.

6.0 Mvomero case study

6.1 Introduction
Mvomero district is one of the five districts in the Morogoro Region which was formed by
splitting the former Morogoro district vide Government Notice Number 453 gazetted on 17th
September 2004.The District borders Handeni district to the North, to the east there is Bagamoyo
district, to the south there are the Morogoro Municipality and Morogoro District and to the West
there is Kilosa district. Mvomero district occupies a total area of 7,325 square kilometres.

The district is named ‘Mvomero’ after the famous Mvomero River which is the most
significant feature in the District. The name Mvomero originated from the Luguru word ‘vomea’,
which means ‘to sink.’ Mvomero was a small village, which existed before colonialism and
vilagelization operation in 1974. Mvomero district is located at latitude 06◌ْ 26’ South and
longitude 37◌ْ 32’ East.

Administratively, the district is divided into four (4) divisions which are further divided
into twenty eight (28) wards composing of one hundred fifteen (115) villages. Mvomero district
council has thirty (30) councillors in total: twenty (28) are from the ruling party (CCM) and two
(2) are from the leading opposition party (CHADEMA).

In order to understand the relationship between the politicians and administrators at Mvomero
District Council the, researchers studied the following six variables:

• The perception held by each group within and against the other
• The power resource
• The issue of trust and loyalty and
• Interactions, interventions/interferences and conflict

6.2 Perceptions

6.2.1 Politicians’ perceptions about the administrators

The perception held by the politicians (councillors) seems to indicate that they are the ones who
are the overseers of the council matters as well as the wellbeing of the council in general. The
views of the politicians who participated in the interviews and focus group discussions indicate
that they have the notion that they are the ‘supervisors’. To them their supervisory role seems to
28
range from being the supervisors of the administrative staff to the ones who supervise the
implementation of development activities in the council. This attitude was vividly revealed by
one councilor who participated in the focus group discussions when he stated that:

I am the chairperson of the social service committee; I represent the people and am their
voice and most important, I supervise the council administrative staff to ensure that they
perform their duties according to the rules, laid down procedures and laws.

The councillors perceive some of their counterpart council officials to be unethical and opaque
when it came to the implementation of council programmes. For instance, as it was noted by one
councilor during the interview, that the officials who are responsible for councilors’ capacity
building programmes never involved them (councillors) in determining what was really needed
in such programmes, even the schedules of the activities within the programmes were not clear to
the councillors and in most cases they were caught in surprise.

The perception, whether the other part facilitates or hinders the achievement of the
predetermined targets, seems to be the factor that defines the relationship between the councillors
and the administrative staff in the council. When the councillors perceived that the council staff
in one way or another blocked their way towards accomplishing what they had planned in their
localities, obvious the relationship would be categorised as bad and the opposite of that would be
the recipe for the good relationship between the two parties. This variation in the perception of
the relationships was indicated during the focus group discussions. The councillors claimed that
they were not in good relationship with the staff as they failed to reach consensus at the
appropriate time. This made them to fail in implementing the council’s decisions due to
unnecessary bureaucratic procedures. It was further shown that the councillors never get
information they seek from the council on time that in turn they fail to make enough preparation
for the meeting… Those councillors who perceived that they had a bad relationship with their
counterpart officials provided the following comments which seem to indicate their failure to get
the appropriate support from the council staff:

The relationship is not good at all. There are many things in relation to people’s
development we fail to reach consensus at the appropriate time, in my ward we need a
road, and they say the focus is on construction of dispensaries as it is the national priority.
This is not people’s need in my ward. We fail to implement people’s needs on time due to
their time wasting bureaucratic procedures without looking at what people need.

I never get important information on time from them. Most of the information comes to
me in an ad-hoc manner, in this way I fail to have adequate time to prepare for, let say,
the meetings.

However, contradicting information was given by some of the interviewed councillors that they
always get the information they ask from the officials. They also add that when they gave their
29
opinion is also taken for consideration and claim that their working relationship is smooth.
Further analysis shows that the councillors who claim to receive the information they need on
time are the councillors who are in the center. This was supported by the claim of the councillors
in periphery wards who said that they are ignored because they are in remote areas. The staff has
the tendency to avoid remote wards because of their own preferences. The interviewed
councillors provide the following;

They tend to avoid remote area; my ward is a victim of this preference. I keep on
insisting them to come but they just visit those areas which are easily reached. This is
favouritism. We have been waiting for the technical advice for almost five months now,
but no one cares about this… I doubt whether we will manage to complete the
construction as planned… may be the funds they are supposed to use in supporting our
efforts in the construction have been allocated to another activity… this has been the
tendency here…

The interview with the councillors shows that they expected to have different relationship
with the staff which in turn they did not experience it. They seem to expect the staff to respond to
everything they told them while the staff is also obliged to implement the council’s plan. This in
turn has resulted into councilor’s perception that the staff are not ready to cooperate with them or
supporting them to implement the priority of the councillors and their people. The councillors
went further and recommend for the council to discipline the officials who deny supporting the
Councillors .

The relationship is not as expected. My community needs a bridge, but the council
officials have the view that the bridge for the time being is not the priority of the council,
but my people and I see it as our priority.

I never get enough support to help my people in the ward to construct school
infrastructures. I think the DED should be accountable for this failure. The full council
should consider disciplining the officials who deny providing their technical support to
the communities…

The issue of patriotism also features in the councilors’ perception towards the council
officials (administrative staff). There is a tendency in the council for the councillors to view the
officials as the individuals who lack patriotism and are the ones who are at the council for their
own benefits and not that of the community. The councillors who were interviewed provided the
following comments:

We need their support we never get it on time. I urge them in the council departments to
work for the nation; they should be patriotic to the nation and should never work for their
self interests...

30
 Regarding the issue of patriotism, the councillors went further claiming that some
administrative staff used the council’s fund to pay for the unplanned activities without any
justifications. The councillors raised their voices that administrators use their expertise to enrich
themselves without any remorse for the public needs and demands. This seemed to be the reason
for the councillors to have the opinion that the administrators were not patriotic to the public at
large. The councillors went further to note that they were cautioned by one of the ministries on
the allegation that the council’s fund was misused; however councillors named their counterpart
officials as the factor and source behind this allegation. Some of the interviewed councillors
commented as follows:

The officials don’t follow the laid down procedure and rules, especially in spending the
funds allocated for projects. Look! We have just received a warning regarding to our
council’s spending patterns from the Prime Minister’s office-Regional Administration
and Local Government.

I view them as individuals who are just here for their own interests, some of them
embezzle project funds by spending the funds to pay some other unrelated cost items like
overtime and other staff allowances, for instance travel on duty. They use their technical
and professional knowledge to create wealth for themselves… and not for the good of the
community’s livelihood. The council officials lack openness, especially in the way the
funds are spent…

Councillors’ perception towards the council administrative staff seems to be influenced

by the councilors’ political affiliation. The councillors in the district were from two opposing
political parties, the factor which seemed to make them develop different perceptions in relation
to the way administrators perform their roles and responsibilities in the council. During the
interviews and some discussions with the councillors from the opposition party (CHADEMA),
the councillors noted that they were not pleased with the way, according to them; the officials
inclined to whatever was dictated by the ruling party (CCM). In more specific terms, one of them
provided that:

They work on the basis of past experience, they never want to change and adjust
themselves to the current changes, especially understanding that they have to be neutral
to the parties’ interests…

Moreover, when it came to the relationship among the councillors, the councillors from the
opposition went further to note that they lacked support from their fellow councillors from the
ruling party. On the other hand, the councillors from the ruling party claimed that they were
guided by their party’s election manifesto; therefore whatever was to be raised in the council
should aim to implement this manifesto. The following were the views of the interviewed
31
councillors regarding their relationships and the way administrators seem to cope with politics in
the council:

We in the opposition politics, in most cases, lag behind whenever we present our request
to them…

They do not support me in the development of infrastructure in my ward. They keep on

saying that it is not the priority of the council at the moment. They claim to follow the
CCM election manifesto…

Despite the current changes in the political landscape in the country, most of the council
officials do not want to accept this, they continue to behave the way they used to do,
business as usual…

The council decision making process is not good as I would wish it to be. We, from the
opposition party, are sometimes downplayed with our fellow councillors from the ruling
party. This creates groups or let say, competing camps in the council; something which
causes hatred and selfishness in the council…

In the same perspective the administrators had the view that party politics had a
significant consequence on the type of the relationship not only between the politicians and
administrator, but also between the two camps of the councillors in the district. In this regard the
acting head of administrative affairs of the council, during the interview, provided the following
comments:

Their (councillors) involvement in group politics limits the proper implementation of the
development activities of the council. Look here, one group is using the current land
conflict and the decision to evict people from protected forests as a political capital…
Although the district has a good intention in its land use plan, some politicians and
councillors have opposed this initiative…

The acting head of council administrative affairs went further and commented that:

Politicians use politics, in some occasions, to block the implementation of legal matters
by sensitizing the citizens not to follow the rules…It happened that I had discussions with
one councillor and the politician claimed that the constitution allows anyone to live
anywhere in the country…provided he/she is a Tanzanian…the politician claimed further
why is it the case that whenever people support the opposition, they are always subjected
to suffering like the current eviction order in our areas…?

6.2.2 Perceptions of the administrators

The administrators, whom in this report we also call bureaucrats or officials, were of the view
that politicians, i.e. councillors, did not understand their limits on the council matters. They
32
(politicians), according to the council officials interviewed, failed completely to understand what
they were supposed to do. The interviewed officials claimed that councillors sometimes
interfered in technical matters, ordering them to be implemented the way that favoured their
interests. The interviewed officials informed that the political interference in the implementation
of the council plans posed serious challenges towards realising the strategic goals. The
bureaucrats noted that they often encountered resistance from the constituencies when
implementing council’s decisions. For instance, one official during the interview provided that:

Whenever we give them technical advice, they accept it on the perspective of how much
it promotes them politically…if in their view it doesn’t; they just see it as nothing and
reject it… In most cases these politicians decide on the basis of politics, which then puts
us in a serious dilemma because we are always guided by rules, procedures and laws,
something which politicians want to avoid frequently.

Another administrator in Mvomero district was of a similar view when probed by one of our
fellow interviewers on how the political interference to the implementation of council decisions
affected the administrators’ performance and the realisation of council goals. Citing particularly
the frustrated implementation of the recent land relocation plan which was meant for ensuring
proper utilisation of land in the district, the official had the following feelings:

On technical issues/matters, the politicians interfere very much. Such interference affects
the realisation of our targets as administrators. At the moment, the council and district
administration work to ensure that the council implements the plan aiming at proper
utilisation of land in the district, but the politicians in the areas see this as something that
damages their reputation…

…the councillors defend their actions on the grounds that they are legitimate
representatives of their voters, and that it is their duty to speak for the people when
council decisions are implemented…

6.2.3 Role and views of third party on politicians – administrative relationship in the
council
The District Commissioner’s officials are regarded as the third party in the process of
understanding the relationship between the politicians and administrators in the council. From
the interviews with the District Administrative Secretary and one official in DC’s office, the
following were revealed to be their roles in relation to the operations of the council;

The district commissioner’s office has the roles to supervise the operations of the council
in accordance with the rules, laws and procedures governing the councils, to prepare
favorable environment for the council to fulfill its roles. The office is also making follow
up to council projects as the construction of schools, dispensaries and roads to see

33
 whether the standard is met and advise appropriately. In addition, the office is responsible
of sensitizing the citizens to participate in the implementation of the development
projects and help to minimize tensions in the council.

As the DC’s office, when we see the council makes mistakes in its decisions and we feel
that such decisions may have severe consequences to the communities in general, we
normally intervene. This is done basically on the basis of the rules, laws, legislations and
procedures, sometimes common sense and wisdom is used. In this sense, the district
commissioner’s office ensures peace and tranquility in the council and the district in
general.

Despite the DC’s office having such noted crucial responsibilities towards council’s
operations, in most cases, the officials in this office had the view that the relationship between
the politicians and administrators in the council was situational. The officials in the DC’s office
witnessed the conflicting relationship between the council officials and politicians (councillors).
They said that the councillors preferred to implement things which they thought they fitted their
interests rather than the council’s strategic plans. On this, the District Administrative Secretary
noted as follows:

We have witnessed councillors rebuke the administrators openly claiming that they have
made the council not being able to fulfill its targets. Such rebukes are seen by officials as
an act of insubordination… claiming that they (officials) know what and when they are
supposed to perform…

In another interview occasion in the DC’s office, the official had the view that the self centered
behaviour of the councillors seems to affect the general relationships in the council. According to
this official such behaviour did not limit itself to councillor-administrators relationships but also
it had the spillover effect on councillor-councillor relationships regardless their political
orientation. On this the administrative officer in the DC’s office commented as follows:

Councillors in most cases are individuals with self interest and normally prepare
themselves for the coming election. They fight for the positions in the council
committees; some politicians use their influence to win positions in the council
committees. Others do not have any position in the council committees. As a
consequence we see conflicts among them; they fight for the accumulation of allowances
paid in the council committees...

34
6.3 Trust and loyalty
As the dimension to understand the relationship between the politicians and administrators, trust
and loyalty, according to the findings from the interviews, discussions and review of the council
meeting proceedings, can be used to explain the relationship between the two parties in the
following ways: whether the politicians view the administrators as the ones who are there for the
benefit of the council and whether the administrators view the councillors as the individuals who
value their profession. For instance one administrator in the council noted that:

Whenever we provide them with the technical advice, they only view the extent to which
it promotes them politically…if not they view such advice as nothing…

The view of the councillors on whether the administrators are there for council’s benefits
were vividly provided in the full council meeting proceedings of February 2013. The meeting
proceedings highlighted that:

…the full council has decided to suspend the Council Executive Director for the
allegation of embezzlement of funds allocated for project. The councillors reached this
resolution on the ground that the Director has completely failed to supervise the
implementation of development projects. The full council also suspended the Council
Planning Officer and two Accountants on the same allegation that they have embezzled
council funds. The councillors completely do not trust these officials and have instructed
the Council Chairman to inform the Regional Commissioner that they are not satisfied
with the performance of the Director and other suspended officials as they have grossly
violated their directives and it is recommended that they should be removed from the
council. On top of that the councillors demanded the former Council Chief Accountant
who has been transferred to another local government authority to be brought back and
provide explanation of this embezzlement. In this council meeting, it was revealed by the
report of the Council Internal Auditor that between January and August 2012, the council
spent more than 585 million Tanzanian shillings for the projects whose value did not
match that sum of money spent. There was no clear evidence providing the proof that
such sum was spent on the claimed projects. (Mvomero District Council, Full Council
Meeting Proceedings, February 2013)

Regarding the above views of the councillors, one of the interviewed councillors stated that:

35
 We are not ready to see the embezzlement in the council. The director must leave the
council. We do not have confidence with these officials; we are capable of managing our
council in the right direction even without the support of this director and her officials.

6.4 Power resource

Power resource as the dimension for explaining the existing relationships between the
councillors and administrators in the council dwells on the following criteria: knowledge,
expertise, permanence in the council, local support, popular mandate and the local wishes. Thus
the way the two parties make use of the power resource criteria is likely to determine the
direction of their relationship in the council between them as well as among them (for the
politicians on the basis of their political affiliations).

The findings from the interviews, discussions and documentary reviews indicate that the
politicians and the administrators in the council possess varying criteria of power resource. For
example, most of the administrators have been in their positions for more than five years, while
most of the councillors have just started to serve for the first time in their five year term as
politicians. In terms of the education qualifications, the administrators are far superior compared
to their counterpart politicians. All council heads of departments are master’s degree holders
while the majority of the councillors are standard seven leavers with exception of one councilor
who has master degree and two who have managed to complete form four as per the data from
the selected sample (see the tables below).

Table: Profile of interviewed Councillors: Level of Education

Education Qualification Number of
Councillors
Master Degree 1
Bachelor Degree 0
Diploma 0
Form Six 0
Form Four 2
Standard Seven – Primary 7
Education
Total 10
Source: Field work, 2012

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 Table: Profile of interviewed administrators: Level of Education
Education Qualification Number of
Administrators
Master Degree 4

Bachelor Degree 1

Total 5
Source: Field work, 2012

Such a snapshot of varying power resource, especially in terms of the difference in level
of knowledge and expertise between the politicians and councillors, seems to indicate the way
councillors relate to the administrators as it is provided in the following complaint delivered by
the councillor during the discussions:

They generally do not respect us… may be because they see themselves as the ones
highly educated… I only went up to standard seven…

Despite acknowledging that the administrators have superior knowledge in the council,
the politicians have the feeling that such quality does not seem to benefit the council and the
community in general. On the other hand administrators, as it was revealed in the interviews,
have the notion that the low education qualifications on the part of politicians (majority of
councillors) may be regarded as the factor that causes councillors to wrongly interpret their
(administrators) actions and behaviours in the council.

Despite councillors being individuals with great roles to perform in the council, their low
education qualification is a problem. May be it is high time the education qualification be
among the criteria for anyone who aspires to be a councillor, rather than, being able to
read and write, at least one should have a diploma qualification to enable them to clearly
understand and conceptualise matters or issues in the council…

The way information is being disseminated in the council was seen as another factor that
influenced the relationship between the politicians (councillors) and the administrators (council
officials). The findings show that in almost all incidences in the council the source of
information about what was supposed to be pursued or done was from the council officials
(administrators) who actually own technical and professional knowledge. However the views put
forward by the councillors in relation to the manner in which the information is delivered to them
had mixed feelings. Few of the interviewed councillors, especially those who were from the
wards close to the council headquarters said that they always got the information on time and had
the necessary support.

37
 We are working together; we are receiving their technical and professional support. Such
support enables us provide informed decisions and being able to supervise the
implementation of the development activities such the construction of secondary school,
dispensary, irrigation channels and bridge in our ward. We are together for the
implementation of the aimed projects.

However some councillors claimed that some officials were not transparency and did not
disseminate the information to them as required. The council standing orders required the
officials to circulate the documents of the meeting to the councillors at least seven days before
the meeting. During the interviews most of the councillors noted that this was not done
frequently. As a result they sometimes attended the meetings without being prepared which in
turn limited their focus and participation to such meetings.

…most of our council officials are not transparent in detailing council

programmes…normally their tendency is to circulate call messages one day before the
occurrence of let say, an important meeting at the council… For the case of technical
support, on my side, I hardly get at the time I need…

Most of the information comes to me in an ad-hoc manner. I feel I am only used to pass
things…

6.5 Summary

The case has clearly indicated that each party (councillors and administrators) understands its
position, responsibilities and roles in the council. It has also revealed that there is the existence of
interaction between the politicians and administrators in the council. However there are
incidences where these interactions are not seen as such, especially by those councillors whose
wards are located in rural and marginalised areas. These councillors have the view that they
never get the appropriate attention from the administrators. For the case of the relationships
between the two parties, there are mixed feelings. There are those who feel that councillors and
administrators relate well and the councillors do get enough support from the administrators and
vice versa. In some cases, there are those who feel that the relationship in the council is full of
conflicts and misunderstandings. Some of the reasons which may be mentioned for such a
situation include the self centred behaviour of the councillors, administrators being the ones who
aim to enrich themselves and being less concerned with the interests of the communities,
opposing political affiliations and difference in education levels between the two parties.

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7.0 Kinondoni case study

7.1 Introduction
The municipality is located on the west of Indian Ocean coastline. It covers 531square km of the
land that includes offshore islands, the municipality is characterized by both urban and rural
physical developments. Kinondoni Municipal Council (KMC) is one of the three Municipals in
Dar es Salaam Region; the region in the eastern part of Tanzania. The three municipals including
others Temeke and Ilala form the City of Dar es Salaam, the first big business centre in
Tanzania.

Administratively, KMC is divided into three constituencies of Ubungo, Kawe and Kinondoni.
The council has thirty four (34) wards composing 171 Streets. The council has fourth six (58)
councilors in total: thirty one (39) are from Ruling Party CCM and fifteen (18) are from the
opposition parties (CHADEMA and CUF).

In order to understand the relationship between the politicians and administrators at Kinondoni
Municipal Council, similar variables were used as was for Mvomero case

7.2. Perceptions

7.2.1 Politicians’ perceptions about administrators

Most of the politicians interviewed both on face to face talking and through cell phones
confirmed to know that are the ones responsible for the development of their people and the law
established the Local Government Authorities stipulates clearly this great role the Councillors
have to their constituencies. So they perceive themselves accountable to their people and have
the mandate to supervise the council activities for effective implementation. To them the
relationship exists by Councillors and administrators bases on this legal framework. The
responses gathered from the interviews indicated that:

Councillors are responsible for overall supervision of council activities, Administrators

are responsible for provision of technical advices; implementing decisions of councillor
and production of reports and Members of Parliament are responsible for overall
supervision of council activities and are representative of the council in the parliament

Another relationship existing does base on the general understanding of day to day activities in
the councils. It was observed during the study that, Councillors seem to perceive administrators
as not doing their work well, to them (Councillors) administrators are not serious, not transparent

39
and somehow lack capacity to deliver. This goes together with beliefs that the majority of
administrators are self centred and selfish and want to accumulate wealth and do not have
feelings for local people since are not direct responsible for community as Councillors
Councillors do. With this negative perception, indeed does not seem to stem good relationship in
the council.

Example; The supervision development projects are an issue. Transparency is not

adequate. At time implementation of development projects are done without the
knowledge of Councillors and staff at lower levels. So this is the situation which brings
tense in the council meetings in most cases. The tendering process not clear and most
times you find contracts awarded to one person. So the 61 and 62 regulations of
tendering are not followed.

In Sinza ward, it was reported Shekilango road had 95 million allocated for its
rehabilitation and done while not, NIT road had 102million but nothing was done though
reported work done. So you can imagine how many fake projects were done and money
gone, but you raise those issues in the council meetings then troubles starts and crush.
This year 2012/13 budget, allocated total fund is 102 billion; development amounts to
12billions in which 7 billion will be used to pay debts of last year budget for unfinished
projects. The only 5 billion shall be used for new projects this year, therefore a very
small amount to say. In fact the council meetings are just formality you pass decisions but
what done are other things and nothing can be done. A good example is last decision we
made to build a normal market in Mburahati Ward, but we heard/ read in news papers
that the Machinga complex shall be built in the place, so what is this?

What is wrong here? May be some politicians are more powerful and dictates or diverge the
decisions earlier? This is the assumption and the truth as well at the same time. Hence a very
complex situation indeed

The last part of the cited example brings in another angle from which this time, some Councillors
Councillors perceives that others are not honest because either they collude with administrators
or influences and manipulate the decisions of the councils to fit their interests. The above
example indicates that the full council approved the construction of a normal market but was
heard later that a Machinga Complex shall be built. This implies that the relationship existing in
councils is alternatively a function of power to influence, manipulations, collusion between the
two parties , then a complex situation to explain.

The situation above was mostly referred to be common in the department of Land office,
planning Office, works and the procurement offices. Some Councillors said that had instructed

40
the MD to write warning letters to the heads of those departments, though this was not proved
anywhere by documents.

So general from the above perceptions one could say chiefly base on self perceptions, hallo
effects, stereo types and performance expectation, hence the political administrative relationship
is not good and obviously the implementation of the council activities is subjective. Therefore
the portrayed dominance here is administrative but which leaves a lot of questions unanswered
because the mentioned activities are done in the wards in which Councillors are there always,
so why are they not intervening in the sites since they know the approved budgets and are
educated people?

7.2.2 Administrators’ Perceptions about the Councillors

Recently, there has been an increase in the capacity of the Councillors in terms or knowledge,
skills and experiences due to some retired officers joining the political career. One of the
administrators in Kinonndoni who was interviewed was satisfied with the current situation of the
council, where the majority of its members have a university education and there is a mixture of
people with diverse experience and professional orientation. This comment from the
administrator in line with others forms a good base of a kind of relationship that exist between
them and Councillors basing of the enormous experiences and technical capacity to deliver.

We do have retired officers from the public services with a variety expertise and extensive
experiences. Administrators vividly appreciated the capacity of present Councillors ’
cabinet that majority are first and second degree holders and some retired staff in both
public and private sector. Others are business men so in general their understanding is
high compared to the former Councillors cabinet. At times when council budget get stuck,
Councillors take charge of reviewing it on their own and give us their opinions as
regards to what should be done. So always in the council meetings the debate is hot
nothing goes without being questioned for its authenticity.

Nevertheless, the administrators seems to still have some bad feelings for politicians that no
matter how good politicians are, the driving motive is very often to achieve the political interests.
This is the anchor of discussions in the council meetings. The Councillors are driven by
promises; they make to their Councillors constituencies always. It is so because they need to
ensure their political positions in the following elections. Administrators assured that clashes
between them and Councillors in council meetings and in offices are very common. Councillors
think that administrators do always want to block their interests even if not included in councils
plans. So from this scenario one would say fear to lose representation and popularity by
Councillors has a great impact on their relationship with administrators. In a situation of scarce
resources and abundant wants/wishes by these two groups relationship seem to be at dilemma
always.

41
A practical example can be drawn from the 2011/12 financial year, when there were
disagreements about budget allocations. The Councillors preferred a budget allocation of 70%
for development projects and 30% for recurrent expenditure while the administrators preferred a
budget of 60% for development and 40% recurrent expenditure. It was very difficult to agree on
which of the two to be approved. However after a long discussion, an agreement was reached
which finally led to the 60% development and 40% for recurrent.

The base for increasing development budget was to complete promised projects to win peoples
confidences, so Councillors here become more furious. Moreover , some crucial issues never get
priorities are the expansions of schools, health units , construction of new structures such as
schools, health units , wells etc since are known to be shouldered by central government and
Councillors don’t see them adding value to their popularity so not their priorities. Basically they
concentrate on projects that are the responsibility of the council directly so as to draw the
attentions of their voters.

‘DIWANI ACHARUKIA UJENZI WA BARABARA

DIWANI KATA YA SARANGA, EPHRAIM KINYAFU, AMEMPA SIKU SABA
MKANDARASI WA KAMPUNI YA CASCO KUANZA UJENZI WA BARABARA
YA KING’OKO YA MANISPAA YA KINONDONI JIJINI DAR ES SALAAM,
VINGINEVYO WANANCHI WATACHUKUA HATUA ZA KISHERIA. IMEPITA
MIEZI SITA TANGIA MEI 2012 NA BADO UJENZI HAUJAANZA. MRADI HUU
UKO CHINI YA UFADHILI WA JAPAN WA TSH 300,000 MILIONI’
(MWANANCHI, 9 OCTOBA 2012: ISSN 0856-7573 Na 04489)

So despite the increasing capacity of the Councillors, still administrators perceive that the
implementation of the council plans is subjective too. And obviously this situation affects
negatively the relationship between the two sides. However, for the Councillors who manages to
manipulate situations and succeed things work better on their sides, so the relationship in this
case may be relatively good between Councillors and administrators involved. Thus there is
political dominance but which is mixed with village partnership disguisedly.

As stated in politicians’ perception, even for administrators do perceive that they are more
capable for council decision making since have range of expertises and experiences and are the
source of everything tabled in the council meetings. This basically is touching self perception,
hallo effects, stereo types and performance expectation in its totality. The study found mixed
feelings from administrators whom were interviewed

42
 ‘I don’t find problem working with Councillors but their importance is questionable. Just
imagine, me being a specialist in finance do I need a councillor to supervise me in order
to work? No, I work according to established rules and regulations of finance not
otherwise. of course there are the watch dog of the government, the national audit office,
in case there are mismanagement of funds, the Chief Auditor General (CAG) report will
reveal and the procedures/ measures as specified in the regulations will be observed/
taken to rectify the situation immediately, so totally I don’t buy the idea of working with
or having Councillors in the local governments.’

This view corroborated with the opinion of bureaucrat who said that:
‘In my opinion I don’t find the sense of being supervised by the Councillors . The current
local government structures makes the decision making process too long and political
interests in several cases overrules but not matching with the realistic situations at hand.
Nevertheless, the staff needs to be faithful and committed enough to their responsibilities
and ethics.’

This was also supported by the bureaucrats who expressed that

‘On my side I still buy the idea of Mwalimu Nyerere in the 1970s where he preferred to
have no Councillors in the local government. Frankly speaking, Councillors do not do
anything so potential that a staff cannot do. Only nuisance of claiming unnecessary
‘posho’/ allowance is abundant in councils. Nevertheless, the presence of Councillors in
the councils may be of importance if the attitudes changes and be there separation of
power. Councillors should be primarily dealing party issues and leave the staff manage
council in their own without disturbance from them. ‘

Some bureaucrats provided opinion which showed that they are not closer with the councilors.
One of the interviewed administrators affirmed that:

‘To be honest I am not close to Councillors , I work with my own principles and I base on
my work principles. I was sited to be given warning together with council engineer and
procurement officer but in fact was a fabricated situation while the situation at hand was
different. No one was given warning rather having known the truth Councillors lowered
down their moods and works continued as usual.’ Sometimes Councillors uses media to
cleanse themselves.

Some administrators had a view that the organization structure is not followed because of the
behaviour of some councilors to pop up in their offices:

A Councillor just pop anywhere to clear his or her demand while the procedure is for the
Councillors to seek audience with the MD then MD communicate the issues to his/her
43
 relevant department for solutions. Political stands override the meetings especially
between CCM and CHADEMA hence long pulling. Nevertheless I like oppositions since
is a check and balance.’

‘Councillors should be separated from staff or if possible be removed. The WEOs and
VEOs are enough we don’t need Councillors. If the parties need them then should be
another chain of command in political chain that does not interfere with staff in their
works in LGAs.’

In contrast, some administrators seem to have positive perception against the councilors. When
an administrator in KMC was asked a probing question about the relationship with the
councilors, he asserted that:

‘The relationship between me and councillors is good and in some instances I use them
to push some of the health projects. For instance at Mwananyamala hospital, there are
several projects such as construction of building for ante natal and others going on;
nevertheless, working with Councillors poses some challenges since in most time
political interests are given priority. The composition of Kinondoni Councillors includes
the three parties namely, CCM, CHADEMA, and CUF. The opposition has 18
Councillors so this is a check and balance. Long and hot discussions are the experience
in this council, there are disagreements several times and decisions take a long time to be
made. Moreover, at times the council incurs unnecessary costs to host extra meeting in
order to reach consensus. However, such pulling in some cases has positive impact and
assist staff to put things in the right direction. Some Councillors tend hate staff when
projects in theirs wards not done immediately as they want.’

Moreover, similar response was provided by another administrators when he was asked about
their relationship with the councilors in the council:

‘Me ok with the presence of Councillors because are the representatives of people at the
grassroots. We staff we know what happening at grassroots from Councillors and ward
executive officers. Councillors play a major role in influencing or mobilizing community
people for implementation of various things or solve problems in their localities so are
important too. However, formerly, the then Councillors were not knowledgeable enough
so they could attempt to diverge the procedures in order to fulfil their interests. At the
moment though things have improved but still the system is bureaucratic so a need for
training Councillors to easy the decision making process’

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With those perceptions one would say the cooperation between Councillors and administrators is
bilateral but at most the majority of administrators still see that Councillors do not follow
procedures rather they want administrators to do what they want, so it depends with the
personality, reasoning, and character of the administrator to cope with that situation

Furthermore, in regard to accused staff performing below standards, one head of the department
among the mentioned departments underlined that:

It is just defensive mechanism, Councillors do it several time using the media to show the
public that are active. Once the media leaves, they normally seat with Councillors and
talk amicably and resolve all issues at hand. No one was given a warning letter....

These suggest that Councillors force and prefer dictating things to be done even in the
disagreements with administrators, hence connoting political dominance. However, the
perceptions above prefer administrative dominance a situation somehow still struggling to take
charge or act somehow to block the speed accelerated by Councillors.

7.2.3 Influence of the third party

During an interview the District Administrative Secretary (DAS), he comments that the
relationship between DC/DAS office and the councils exist through council meetings. We are
invited to attend full council meetings. The DC/DAS receives a copy of full council meeting
minutes. At times we use informal means to collect information from councils.

So to speak the relationship between staff and councilors is good. The presence of multiple
parties in the council makes it active and so far has not affected anything because; the main focus
of all councilors is council development only.

Nevertheless, during interview with administrators had number of comments in regard to this
influence , first was on tantalizing situation by the interference of central ministries and in this
case the Ministry of Finance referring to Tanzania Revenue Authority and Ministry of Land, and
Town Planning. For the time being the Property Taxes are centralized and are collected by TRA
from the councils directly. The TRA do not give feedback how much it collects rather it
disburses cashes to councils according to its procedures and councils are not allowed to
challenge that. The local councils are fighting fiercely to claim back the right to collect property
taxes in their premises though still this seem to be a very difficult thing as per finance regulations
direct

45
So councils know only what they receive but not how much are collected. This situation gives
line of doubt on the collections a reflection of meager resources , hence a cause of scrambling for
it by both politicians and Administrators.

Secondly, the Ministry of Lands and Town Planning, still has mandate to decide on the plots and
lands in the cities and towns. The local councils also have the power to do the same in their
premises. The case of Kunduchi Mikoko forest protection project and the Open space near
IMUTU Tegeta give a clear picture of the situation. Still the central government has the power to
decide things to the councils and the councils have to abide. So in most cases the two offices do
not sit together to agree or propose the suitable use of the certain plots or area for the benefits of
the councils and the national at large. The situation it is now, ambiguity exist because the
decisions are seen to favour some people with titles and leave away the general community
benefits hence complicating relationships in the Councils too.

Thirdly , Secondary School taken as an example for MES , Mpango wa Maendeleo Elimuya
Sekondari 2000-2025, it was plan to be implemented it phase wise, the first phase to absorb
50% of primary pupils passed standard seven examination into form one by 2010. The second
phase to absorb 75% of passed pupils by 2015 and the third phase to absorb 100% passed pupils
into form one by 2020.

Very surprising in 2006 in accordance with CCM manifesto, the Prime Minister instructed all
councils to absorb 100% passed pupils into form one. This was quite awkward, because did not
take into account other dimensions such as resources in terms money, staff, infrastructures and
the likes. But since was an order councils had no option rather to implement by all crook means.
Funds were mobilized to builds schools and students enrolled but in actual sense the majority
schools had few teachers or not at all, very few furniture and text books for references.

A crash program was introduced to give special packages for form six leavers in one year and be
dispatched to schools for teaching. We had an experience in which some could perform others
not because of the short time used to prepare the quick teachers. Furthermore as an alternative to
increase enrolment for form one, some school experienced a very huge classes. For instance
Mabibo secondary school today when speaking form three class has 600 students whereby in
normal term should have 320 that is 40 students each class for 8 streams. So generally at present
most of secondary schools have 500 students and above.

An underscore from one administrator, ‘ in order to achieve that at some point we had to divert
capitation (chunya experience) funds to builds classes though regulations governing the usage of
funds do not allow. But the fun thing is that despite of audit queries encountered but since were
due to political motivated actions, no measures ever taken, so you can see politics overrules

46
everything. Therefore in a nutshell there was no need to rush if could not be political motivated
achievements for meeting promises during campaigns.’

So lesion learnt the third party partly do have positive and negative impact on existing PA
relations in the LGAs.

7.3 Trust and Loyalty

Politicians do have their intentions which are politically motivated and also the findings shows
that are not honest because in most cases they force things to be done their own way even if are
not in the councils plans. The findings furthermore indicates that politicians do see the
administrators wanting to block or act less likely not be able to implement the councils plans
effectively .So this connotes the distrust politicians have toward the administrators. Politicians do
not trust the administrators especially when it comes to funds management.

One administrator said:

Practical experience of reducing the clashes between administrators and Councillors lies
in the constructions of roads in respective wards. One administrator said that we
changed the approach and win close collaborations with Councillors who are now
directly involved to collect cashes for construction of roads in respective wards.
Formerly we used to give cash to drivers but the distance from council office to the site
consumes let say 40litres so this situation could not be understood between Councillors
at times. So we invented the idea of involving the Councillors from the beginning so that
they know everything and participate fully in the activity. You could find the Councillors
wearing caps and on top of cars supervising the works in the roads under construction in
the wards. So using this technique helped to minimize frictions between staff and
Councillors.

With this example the researchers find that it is not because the administrators are loyal to
Councillors rather they often find ways to avoid collisions between them with Councillors.
Despite the fact that Councillors have power to propose for stopping the employment of
unscrupulous or bad performing administrators, they often not exercise that power because of the
circumstances explained earlier. In most case the circumstance show that deals are done in
collaborations between Councillors (Decision Makers) and implementers (Administrators). So
issue of loyalty hardly visible in the council unless for incompetent staffs. Therefore the
relationship here is somehow undefined but circumstance show village partnership apply
otherwise things would not been happening.

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It is believed that politicians are self centred as explained earlier, it has been shown in some
cases councils decisions are violated , so walking the talk for Councillors become more difficult
because what is needed to be done as council budget is very little compared to the promises
made by Councillors in their constituencies. This is what make them (Councillors) boil always
and run here and there for alternatives. So this situation cannot grantee trust and loyalty from any
side.

The study findings have shown some acknowledgements from the administrators for the current
Councillors ’ cabinet in regard to their increased competence though the line of doubt lies on
how such competences are utilized for the majority benefits (Community). So administrators do
not much dwell on this trust and neither do the politicians because they believe that
administrators are not honest and are purposely underperforming to undermine them for fulfilling
their political interests.

Communication channels are not followed very often by politicians and this stand to be another
cause of distrust by administrators to Councillors, one of the interviewed administrators
commented:

All matters from the Councillors have to be channelled to MD Office and the MD once
receives the concerns of the Councillors review them and call an officer responsible for
discussion or instructions on what should be done to address them either the MD may
send those concerns to the relevant departments for actions accompanied with his/her
comments. Very unfortunate Councillors do not follow this channel in most times they go
straight to a department concern with a matter at hand. Since there is a misconception
that administrators do things purposely to undermine them or self perception that they
are the bosses in the council then when pop in any administrators’ office some talk
anyhow the feel like even talking on high tones to administrators hence a source of
disappointments to administrators reduces trust among the two sides so greatly and
erode completely the little loyalty exist by administrators to them ( Councillors )

Another strong point underscored relevant communication but majorly inclined to political
affiliation was on parties’ patriotism given by one councillor from CCM (Ruling Party):

He said still democracy yet to be realized and the tolerance among parties is not enough
in most areas where several parties have representatives at different levels. For instance
in his constituency he said the MP is from CHADEMA and as usual people from time to
time prefer to talk to their MP on matters concerning them and that need the attention or
response of the MP . So one day people in his ward decide to talk to their MP and he
despite being the councillor from CCM had no option but to let the MP know of such
need. The meeting was held and he too participated in meeting as the ward councillor.
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 The consequence he faced was that immediately after the meeting he received a call from
one CCM boss and got scorned on that matter. From that day he started doing things his
own way without in touch with the MP and likewise the MP was doing things in ward in
her own way without consulting the councillor. Therefore in a nut shell in areas where
two or more parties have representation, there are problems. The representatives abide
more on the directives from their parties and work through them hence a danger of
retarding developments in the areas.

On his suggestion, the trainings to Councillors, Member of Parliaments (MP), political

party leaders in the Local Governments are needed. We need to train these people in
order to change their attitudes, cultivate more on morals and ethics that will enable to
develop the councils and nation at large. To work in oppositions is not a sin but should
be regarded as a one step ahead toward building a true democracy.

So the scenario above indicated politicians in different affiliations do not trust each other and this
confuses the administrators and shapes the relationships a bit adverse or complicated. This refers
to the assumed political dominance of the ruling party toward oppositions.

Again due to lack of trust among the two players in the council matters, the politicians
(Councillors ) and bureaucrats (Administrators) at times things do happen in undefined
circumstance. One respondent underscored that:

A good example is the open space in front of the DC office, a one vigilant guy decided to
put up a structure intending to serve as a bar hence capture all customers in the areas
since there is daladala stop both side and close to big offices . One councillor from the
opposition several times raised the issue in the council meetings but could not be heard
until the business man was about to complete the structure, the intervention come in to
stop the construction and demolish it.

The situation raises a question on whether the councilors and the bureaucrats were aware of the
construction and who was responsible to take action; the councilors, bureaucrats or both?
However, the questions seem to be applied to administrators since they are the day to day
managers of all council activities. This reflect what is called Laissez-faire or political impasse in
which, politicians and bureaucrats play cool, no body bother what is going on in the council

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7.4 Power Resource& Bargain

7.4.1 Politicians
From the study findings the power base for politicians lies on the legitimacy they are given by
the law established the Local Government Authorities (Local Government Acts No. 7, 8, and 9
of 1982). So it is a statutory right as a power to govern the local Government Authorities
activities. It was said earlier Councillors are the overall supervisors of the council activities.

Another base lies on the capacity Councillors have that is knowledge, skills and experiences.
Was stated earlier by the administrators that

Majority (Councillors) are first and second degree holders and some retired staff in both
public and private sector. Others are business men so in general their understanding is
high compared to the former Councillors cabinet- draw a table here

Furthermore, Councillors originate from the local constituencies so have full support from the
people they represent in the council hence have broad knowledge about local/ constituency
issues or matters. Refer comments may by administrators in to ‘Me ok with the presence of
Councillors and The relationship between me and councillor is good’

Nevertheless, some views from the staffs put forward that some new Councillors lack experience
so are troublesome in demanding things to be done in their wards.

Observation, since some are new and do not have experience on handling council matters
so need trainings. The training to create more awareness to new Councillors on the
general functioning of the Local Government Authorities is needed. Further training is to
be done on attitudes and moral and ethics. It evident some Councillors are arrogant and
enjoy the power entrusted to them and in some cases do not reason well when making
decisions.

So generally the findings prove that, the bargaining power of Councillors is considerably high on
councils’ matters since have high experience and trained expertises too. They can challenge the
administrators anyhow in case plans are not ok.

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7.4.2 Administrators
The staffs mostly enjoy their professional expertises as major source/ base of their power. All the
head of departments plus MD have master degree. This is proven in some administrators
comments in regard to their perceptions written earlier.

At times administrators have to seek assistance from the central Government, that is central
ministries in case Councillors tend to objects issues to do with vertical programmes or any issue
which in the opinion of the administrator has a great impact to the community but of less interest
to the Councillors. The MD commented:

In case the administrators find very difficult to pass a certain issue through Councillors
and they are sure the issue has potential impact on the development of people though has
no political motivation to Councillors, normally ask the parent ministry to direct the
council to implement such issue even if the Councillors do not buy it

Therefore such professional expertise, experience and back up for the central government
provide an enormous strength for administrators to argue for viable plans and their
implementations hence their bargaining power. Moreover, the Directors and the HOD are
appointed by parent ministries which in turn give them power confine on the guidelines.

7.5 Summary
It is quite obvious from the explanations above about the PA- relations in this council to be of
mixed interpretations. It is true there are interactions in both sides and each part knows well its
roles and responsibilities. Councilors are the bosses by virtue of their positions and do prefer to
administrators to respect that and the same for the later, their technical expertise to be honored
and taken into consideration. So during council meetings especially in budget sessions both sides
cooperate in discussions to produce required plans. Even during implementation councilors in
some circumstances team up with administrators to implement planned activities. We also have
seen councilors paying visits to Administrators ‘offices to seek clarifications/ assistances for
their constituencies’ matters. So with level of education both sides have facilitates such
interactions to implementation of council’s activities.

Nevertheless, in the same situations we have seen some discontents from both sides blaming
about interferences caused by either part. Councilors are not happy with administrators violate
council decisions in regards to funds re -allocations without prior approval of the council,
unfulfilled projects just some issues to stress on but at the same time administrators do feel
ambushed very often by councilors pop ups in their offices . So such interferences/ interventions

51
complicate the relationships in the council. In some cases especially about management of
councils funds , there are mysteries here, the blamed embezzlement of funds by administrators ,
divergences for agreed budgets by the disguisedly seen collusion between some influential
councilors and administrators build up an expanded range of distrust among the two parts
members and seemingly to be the source of conflicts happening in the council. Nevertheless,
some administrators dared to say there is no such a thing called conflict between the councilors
and them , rather at some point those things have to be faked to show the public that their
leaders (Councilors) are very concerned with community development matters.

Things becomes more complicated when we read through complaints from the influence of
political parties and mainly the rule one , the way does matters to ensure its legacy sustain. Use
of TRA to control public funds collections, all these together complicates the relations and in
most times keeps some of councilors and administrators unhappy, hence source of chaos
happening in the council.

The general description of the situation in the council acknowledges the presence interactions
accompanied with a lot of interferences due to misunderstandings and distrusts in both sides, so
the issue of loyalty is questionable, even if does seem to be there that administrators have
observe, was said clearly that it is for the purpose of trying to fake harmony in the council. John
Nalbandian say clearly that it is very difficult for two people/ group with different directions/
ambition to seat together and agree to move together. Politicians (Councilors) do have dreams,
wishes, stories, and promises to accomplish while the administrators (Bureaucrats) do also have
the same, but for them fostered in terms of plans and priorities of the councils which may not
necessarily be in line with those of the politicians. This is the bone of contention of the
differences among the two parts. So generally the status of relationships is situational in the
councils and it is very difficult to declare a position of this council in triangle enclosed with the
three models ( Classical, village and Adversarial) shown in part 3.1.4 (a)

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8. Cross case analysis
Cross case analysis was done gain new insight and knowledge of the two cases basing on
commonalities and differences. In doing this, we followed variable based cross case analysis
which focus on the analysis of the variation of independent variables in the two cases. These
variables are drawn from the analytical frame which includes perception, power, trust and loyalty
and bargaining; interactions, intervention and conflicts

8.1 Perception
The data from the two cases suggest that the administrators perceive the politicians as been
driven by political agenda. They believe that the politicians struggle to make sure that their
interests materialize in the council regardless of the procedures they have to follow. This
includes ignoring technical advices from the administrators. On the other hand, the politicians
perceive the administrators as thieves who squander public funds for personal gains. A good
example is Kinondoni case is Shekilango and NIT Roads in Kinondoni municipality where
politicians in those wards blame the bureaucrats (Administrators) for having forged funds while
for Mvomero case, the politicians blame the administrators for unfinished projects. However,
the data from the two cases provide a puzzled and different picture of this situation. A good
example is Kinondoni case where the researchers found no proof of disciplinary measures
taken against unscrupulous politicians or administrators but only the blames from both sides
prevails while for Mvomero case the councillors decided to fight the embezzlement of funds.
For example, the councilors declared their distrust to work with the council director and some of
her subordinates including District planning Officer and Treasurer .Although, the Councilors ’
expertise capacity is low they use their legitimacy power to discipline the administrators.

8.2 Trust and Loyalty

With respect to trust and loyalty, the data from the two cases suggest some similarities with
respect to lack of trust among the two parties . This is evidenced by the behavior of councilors
popping directly into the head of departments without following the proper channels of
communication and force things to be done in favor of their interest which is contrary to the
approved council plans. The lack of trust is attributed by the fact that the level of expertise and
experience between councilors and the administrators vary substantially. For example in
mvomero case, councilors do not have sufficient knowledge and capacity to work on their own
especially during the budgeting process. So the present situation in both cases indicates that each
side aspires to maneuver their interest by using the other side. This signals the lack of trust
among them and hence none is loyal to the other.
With respect to Kinondoni case the administrators feel loyal to councilors when things go astray.
This is evidenced by the behavior of the administrators to influence councilors and convince

53
them to get the plans approved. This suggest that none of them trust on the intentions of the
other, both believe that each side use their skills and knowledge for their interest. Although the
politicians dwell much on political interests, the promises they made to their constituencies, the
administrators believe that they use it as a strategy to accrue wealth and not for the development
of people.

8.3 Power and bargaining

With respect to power and strength to bargain, the two cases have explicitly shown different
sources of power which have substantial effect on strength to bargain for council decisions.
However, the notable differences with respect to sources of power is attributed by variation of
context .First source is representation power of councilors in terms of place of residence (urban
or rural). For example in Kinondoni case which is in urban with a complex setting shows the
representatives who are strong and capable of understanding and analyzing things critically
compared to Mvomero DC which is in rural setting. Second source of power arise from the level
of education and working experience. In Kinondoni Municipality for example, most of
councillors are educated with majority having first and second degree. The administrators in this
case appreciate their capacity and when things get complicated in the planning process the
councillors take over the responsibility and do it on their own and then direct what to be done by
the administrators or sometimes sit together and critically examine their budgets while in
Mvomero District Council almost all councillors involved in the study are standard seven
leavers with only one councillor holding a master degree and another two holding form four
certificates. This gives a room for administrators in Mvomero case to have strong expertise
power compared to the councillors who still believe to be supervisors of council activities. The
data in this case suggest that councillors use the professional expertise of administrators as
scapegoat for mistrust. They believe that the administrators can do everything they want without
being stopped by the councillors. This suggests that the administrators in Mvomero district
council have high bargaining power on technical issues compare to councillors. The study
showed that the councillors are fighting to block the administrators especially for the
irregularities in case of land use in which administrators tend to change the uses. It is obvious
that the power base of councillors in this case is limited to people they represent and local
knowledge they posses.

8.4 Power of decision making and the implementation of plans

The two cases suggest that the councillors have power of decision making through council
committees which are finally approved by the full council while the administrators have the
technical power to advice the councillors. The council Director and his/her team who form the
administration tables the plans in the council through committees for discussion. The discussions
come up with decisions to be implemented and taken forward in the full council to be approved.
54
So the administrators apply their technical expertise in the preparation of plans or reports and
advice the councillors to reach viable decisions.

8.5 Interactions, Interventions and Conflicts

The data from the two case suggest that despite the fact that the administrators do not make
decisions, in some cases they do influence the decisions by approaching the influential or very
understanding councillors including the mayor to sell their ideas in advance and once those
councillors understand the situation they play a role of influencing other councillors to accept
the ideas.

Speaking of, the data provided above do signify the presences of some interactions for decisions
to be made; vividly interventions are also featuring through the stories made in the two cases
amount to a numbers of compromising situations to the level of denial to work with
Administrators (DED and her subordinates) in the case of Mvomero. Very appealing situations
with land evictions and management of funds for development projects in the two cases in line
with John Nalbandian called different spheres of thinking. So with such noticed behaviours from
both sides the researchers are of the opinion of positioning Tanzanian LGAs’ politico-
administrative relations somewhere between the three models in the triangle as seen below

Figure 2: An illustration of the three politico-administr

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9. Discussion of the findings

This part discusses the findings based on councilor’s opinions and the literature of political-
administrative relations. The purposes were to describe and to explain the nature of politico-
administrative relations in Tanzanian Local Government Authorities

9.1 Perception among and between politicians and administrators

From the Constellations of Political and Administrative Logic developed by John Nalbandian,
politics and administration is as much about the ways that people think about their work as it is
the way they behave. Politician’s logic and emotion connected with passion, dreams, and stories
are different from administrator’s judgments which are connected to data, plans, goals, and
reports (Nalbandian 2006).

This concurred with study findings that showed clearly that politicians are always pre occupied
with political agendas that push them to pop up in council department offices at any times
without following procedures. The politicians are pressured by the dream to fulfil the promises
made during the campaigning, however, there is a great difference between the dream and reality
in real practices.
.

“Wants are many but means to achieve them are limited. “

The study revealed that politicians see staffs not delivering accordingly but again it depends
because the situation in the local council is very complex as stated earlier. No proper data on
how much to be collected from the business premises, it is still believed some powerful
politicians together with some staff maneuvers the decisions as was seen in the constructions of
roads, markets and others. The underperforming here is questionable in a way. It is quite true
staff morale is down and politicians wants money to invest in politics, so the chances here for the
two to collude and do whatever possible to meet their dreams and passions is quite high. For this
matter the plans passed in the councils will continue to be inadequately implemented. The
planning will always be there under such circumstances. So who to blame here, the staff? The
staff said clearly in the study that politicians use the media to clean themselves but in actual fact
nothing goes beyond their understanding. In most case everything are done within agreement
between the two sides. Here there a cat and rat game in the council when it comes to implement
policy decisions. So to speak the relationships here are so complicated

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9.2 Trust& loyalty
Nieuwenkamp (2001) pg 157 in page 15 of the article freya and his colleagues explain that the
first and most important condition for a relationship to exist is the presences of trust and loyalty.
Politicians and civil servants cannot work together unless trust rules in their interaction.
However, it was noted that the structure of the local government makes the trust and loyalty to be
difficult to exist. Staffs are taken as the advisors and implementers while politicians who are less
educated or not technically know how were taken as their bosses.

Study revealed that sometime some Councillors do not consider technical advices given by staff
which in turn reduces the chances of trust and loyalty to exist. Yes staffs have to do whatever the
council decides but again the implementation status cannot be effective. It is not loyalty that
staffs extend to Councillors rather staff do work for sake of their families and hence avoid
unnecessary confrontations.

However, there is a little bit of trust in most current urban council cabinet since comprise
of educated and technical people but again the worry is on the dreams , passion
politicians have to fulfill within limited and unrealistic resources. In most case has been a
surprise , when someone who is out of the politics says a lot but when he/she is in always
every things are controlled by the party(ies) hence no individual goal in most cases.
Every politician is forced to work for the party or him/her self and not otherwise.

According to Nieuwenkamp (2001) factors such as structural and cultural and personal are
basically believed to have influence in the trust and loyalty. Firstly, personality of the parties has
an effect on trust and loyalty. This is featured in the councils when the bureaucrats considered
themselves as educated and technical experts compared to Councillors who considered
themselves as powerful and representative of the citizens. Because of this, trust and loyalty can
be distorted anyhow. The working culture of public servants and politicians differ hence likely to
conflict each other subjectively over times.

Moreover, the work of Nalbandian (2006) showed that expectations of the two sides have to be
fulfilled to establish trust and loyalty between them. That is one side expects another side to
fulfill the conditions, responsibilities, or behave in certain manner so once the expectations are
not met automatically trust and loyalty cannot be acquired. According to Nalbandian, this is
called psychological contract. This concurred to real situation happening in the councils. The
Councillors expect the staffs to be competent enough in their areas, respectful, committed and
loyal. On the side of the staffs expects the Councillors to be knowledgeable to understand what
staff proposes to them, respectful, committed to the decisions approved from time to time. But
most importantly, staffs want their expertise to be recognized and given weight in the council
decisions.

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Secondly, Nieuwenkamp (2001) indicate that environment factors such as networks, other
departments, party politics or international actors as the factors which indirectly influence
politico-administrative relations by influencing structural or cultural aspects. These factors were
also featured in the councils on the issue of revenue collections on property taxes that shows the,
councils do not know the actual collections. This situation does not only demoralize Councillors
but as well the staffs. The researchers pointed out that lack of transparency in the collections and
poor data base of the council properties increases the possibilities of the two parties to question
the whole process and reduces trust between them.

Research point out the political party dominance in the general functioning of the council is high
that Councillors have to abide to their party’s manifestos and neglect the collaborations among
different representatives in the same locality (Ward). The research showed the hardship the CCM
councilor in Mbezi Juu ward facing to work with the MP from CHADEMA and the same for the
MP. The problem here the two party’s manifestos do not match and each side do not want work
with another amicably. Hence no trust among them, the ruling party wants other parties to abide
to its manifesto, but those are reluctant. So this is affecting the relationships throughout the
systems in the local councils.

The central government under the ruling party, its departments decide on matters at council
levels, the case of Lands problems. Ministry of Lands and Town Planning and the Council
through Land offices collide in granting offers for plots and open spaces in the councils. The
trust to central Government in this matter has been declining, trust among land office staff at
councils is probable and even among Councillors is probable too.

The international actors, this one fall under foreign direct influence on the overall restructuring
of the Government structures. The Local Government Systems under decentralization process is
due to foreign force. Just to underscore what was said by the respondents, the system centralizes
everything at council level. The streets and wards cannot decide anything for themselves rather
they propose to the council what they want and wait for the council to decide. The staff and
Councillors at these levels are not comfortable at all. They perceive that they are undermined
and they don’t trust the revenue collection system and the decision making process. So on this
matter there is a call to make some improvement to enable managers and Councillors at street
and ward level plan and implement planed activities. They also want to manage the resources at
their levels themselves.

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9.2.1 The issue of competencies,
According to Nieuwenkamp (2001) factors such as structural and cultural and personal are
basically believed to have influence in the trust and loyalty. Firstly, personality of the parties has
an effect on trust and loyalty. This is featured in the councils when the bureaucrats considered
themselves as educated and technical experts compared to Councillors who considered
themselves as powerful and representative of the citizens. Because of this, trust and loyalty can
be distorted anyhow. The working culture of public servants and politicians differ hence likely to
conflict each other subjectively over times.

Moreover, the work of Nalbandian (2006) showed that expectations of the two sides have to be
fulfilled to establish trust and loyalty between them. That is one side expects another side to
fulfill the conditions, responsibilities, or behave in certain manner so once the expectations are
not met automatically trust and loyalty cannot be acquired. According to Nalbandian, this is he
called psychological contract. This concurred to real situation happening in the councils. The
Councillors expect the staffs to be competent enough in their areas, respectful, committed and
loyal. On the side of the staffs expects the Councillors to be knowledgeable to understand what
staff proposes to them, respectful, committed to the decisions approved from time to time. But
most importantly, staffs want their expertise to be recognized and given weight in the council
decisions.

Secondly, Nieuwenkamp (2001) indicate that environment factors such as networks, other
departments, party politics or international actors as the factors which indirectly influence
politico-administrative relations by influencing structural or cultural aspects. These factors were
also featured in the councils on the issue of revenue collections on property taxes that shows the
councils do not know the actual collections. This situation does not only demoralize Councillors
but as well the staffs. The researchers pointed out that lack of transparency in the collections and
poor data base of the council properties increases the possibilities of the two parties to question
the whole process and reduces trust between them.

9.3 Power& Bargain (Dominance in decision-making in the councils)

The interrelationships of politicians, administrators and other third parties do feature clearly
in the findings. In this part the researchers determines the question of who dominates or
governs in the Local Government Authorities. It is agreed that the roles and responsibilities
as identified by the research concedes with John Nalbandian and Schreurs et al as shown in
their articles
59
Basically, the politicians are the policy makers and the administrators are the implementers of
the policies. Nevertheless, it does not mean that since the bureaucrats are just implementers then
do not take part in the policy development processes. In most cases the policy statements
/documents are prepared by the administrators and put on table for discussion through different
council meetings and finally submitted to the full council meetings for endorsements. It is clear
that administrators are aware of all policies and implement them. This showed that the two
parties work in partnership and thus it correspond Schreurs and his colleagues.

Moreover, the study reveals that politicians dictate the decisions and staff cannot force anything
rather play lobbying techniques to make things move forward. This correspond Schreurs et al
that there is no sphere of autonomous for public servants; both the politicians and staff have
influential powers. This suggests that the public servants are expected to be loyal to the ruling
group political executive. This was the case in MDC and KMC as suggested by the findings. The
study findings showed clearly the battle between Councillors defending their manifestos is stiff
in most cases. The council policy plan has to align with the manifesto of the ruling party, but
very often the ruling group takes lead, Politicians know that they have power to direct whatever
they want to be done and the staff are obliged to obey and nothing else. For this matter it means
there is full political dominance.

The study in Kinondoni again reveals the negligence of both of Councillors and staff on the
construction of bar near District Commissioner’s Office which give a lot of questions to be
answered. The declaration of doubtful development projects expenditures especially on Roads
constructions, Shekilango and NIT roads and other projects in Mvomero District council just to
mention which remain unanswered. Under this circumstances it is not possible to say that
administrators do all the things by themselves rather all are done in collaboration with
Councillors. The level of involvement from both sides is subjective too depending on the
environment surrounding the matter and the power of both Councillors and administrators in the
matter.

It is the view of Schreurs and his colleagues, political intuition is very fundamental in PA
relationship in the Local Governments. They say that even if the staffs have expertise which at
times Councillors fear that staff know a lot than them and hence drive them in council meetings
but still these staff need to have ability to judge the political situation in the council.. This was
vividly observed in Kinondoni Case, on the issue of giving fuel money to drivers to go to
construction sites without involving particulars Councillors in respective wards which made
them furious. The District Treasurer harmonized the situation by handing the cash to drivers in
front Councillors and the problem was seen amicably solved. Again the study reveals that when
staff find it difficult to pass through a very important agenda to the community in the council
60
meetings which the Councillors do not buy since does not add value to their popularity, staff use
at times their ability to influence the very powerful Councillors and the vice versa is true too to
make things happen. Of course here things may be working for community benefit or personal
benefit as well it depends.

Furthermore freya and his colleagues, insisted that it is important politicians and administrators
to have ability to achieve the desired results. The ability to execute the policy lines decided by
Councillors and the ability to find creative solutions to implement the policy decisions in the
best possible way within the given constraints. Councillor’s perception to administrators, clearly
indicate that administrators are not implementing council decisions accordingly they do not
involve the Councillors, and they claimed that the problems they are experiencing at in the
council are caused by the administrators. On the side of staff, most of them agreed that the
current council cabinet is somehow good, because most of the Councillors are second, first
degree holders and some are retirees from the public and private sector too. However, they
complained that the councilors do not follow the office procedures. Assessing the situation in the
local government and the perceptions of both parties the environment in the councils seem to be
complex.

So Unless the Local Government structure and regulations for its establishment changed,
Councillors (politicians) will remain powerful (Supervisor) in the council’s decisions however,
the successes of implementation of policy plans are in the hands of administrators. Extreme
dominance by both sides in practice are unrealistic no matter how propagated by various
researchers depending on the circumstance of their studies

10.0 Conclusion, interpretation and Recommendations

10.1 Conclusion
Based on the study findings a Cross fertilization of the two cases Mvomero and Kinondoni was
done to get the off springs /outputs of this study, where it could now conclude that there is a
mixture of elements of the three models of politico-administrative relations that the literature
provides. The study found that the two parties – Administrators/Bureaucrats and Councillors
’/Politicians are in a continuous interaction and cooperation during deliberation meetings both in
the standing committees and the full council; a kind of working relationship which looks like the
village-life model. It was also noted that relationships characterized by ‘power sharing’ between
the two important actors in the formulation and implementation of the LGAs’ development
policies and programmes meaning that the two parts work collectively. There are also some form
61
of responsibility overlaps, mutual trust and respect; indication a boundary between politics and
administration in the day-to-day operations of the LGAs.
The study has also some indications of power scrambles between the LGAs’
Administrators/Bureaucrats and Political elites/Councillors in their attempt to control resources
for the achievement of their goals. To make sure that they achieve their priorities, Councillors
/Politicians often interfere with the executive actions of the Administrators/Bureaucrats. On the
other hand the administrators react to protect their motives leading to conflicts as it was
witnessed in the Mvomero District’s land eviction case. This implies that the relationship
existing in councils is alternatively a function of power to influence, manipulations, collusion
between the two parties a situation underscores that there exist some elements of the adversarial
model in the LGA’s Politico-Administrative relations configuration. It is really a complex
situation to explain about.

It should also be noted that there is no strict sense of it; some elements of the classical model,
particularly, roles separation between the Councillors/Politicians and Administrators/Bureaucrats
with the former concentrating on policy making while the latter execute policies. It was found
that the politicians/Councillors were more powerful than the Administrators/Bureaucrats, and
could direct them to act in the manner they wanted. However, there were some instances where
Administrators/Bureaucrats also seemed to be more powerful than the politicians on the basis of
the expertise they possessed which their counterparts – the Councillors /Politicians did not have.
However the researchers still maintain that the politicians in the Tanzanian LGAs manage to
keep their traditional position as legitimate decision makers in the LGAs while enjoying
abundant ‘loyalty’ from the Administrators/Bureaucrats.
Finally this study concludes therefore that, there is not straight forward answer here as to what is
the dominant model in PA relations in Tanzania LGAs. This is because our observation shows
more of a paraphernalia of elements from all the three models than a holistic and pure form of
any of them; and that the Politico-Administrative relations in the Tanzanian LGAs signify a
‘configuration’ rather than a ‘replicate’ or a ‘true picture’ of any the three ideal-type models of
politico-administrative relations. This is so none of the three ideal-types suggested in the theory
and general experience was perfectly observed in the actual practice of governance in the LGAs.

62
What was seen can be explained as a ‘hybrid model’ that is characterized by a combination of
different elements from the three models with the village and adversarial model features being
more dominant than those of the classical model (See figure 2 part eight). This research therefore
concludes that LGAs’ Politico-Administrative relations in Tanzania are somewhere between the
three models in PA Triad. However, the Kinondoni case the situation does seem to be close to
Classical model and Village model while Mvomero case the situation highly dwelling into
adversarial model.

“In most areas of decision making senior Administrators/Bureaucrats dominate decision

making; the DED/MD establishes the agenda for the council meetings; although the president of
the council is consulted, in practice it is the DED/MD who decides. The proposals, projects and
plans the council has to decide on are prepared by the heads of department, who are not in the
habit to consult members of the local councils for input. If plans are developed at the village or
ward level, the heads of departments decide which elements are included and which are not. If
councils take decisions that are not well received by Administrators/Bureaucrats , the latter tend
to do everything in their power to obstruct implementation or distort council decisions. As we
have sketched administrators do not feel that they must be loyal to the council and work on its’
instruction. They feel that their expertise is superior and that central government priorities must
be honored. Administrators use a series of resources to dominate decision-making….. (etc.).
However, this is not the whole picture. In some situations, Administrators/Bureaucrats depend on
the collaboration of council members; this is especially the case when the allocation of funds and
the execution of projects depend on the willingness of village people to contribute to a project. In
these cases … etc. All in all, the conclusion can be that 1) politico-administrative relations in
Tanzanian local government are determined by resource dependency and power relations; this is
explained by the fact that there is a basic lack of mutual trust between administrators and council
members and a lack of loyalty of Administrators//Bureaucrats towards elected Councillors ;
therefore Politico-Administrative relations do not coincide with Max Webers’ classic rational
bureaucracy type. Weber (1946) says, the classic public servant should be the one who neutrally
and obediently carries out elected politicians’ orders. 2) Overall, the politico-administrative
relations to a high degree coincide with the model of Administrator Dominance; however, in
63
certain situations the relation conforms to the Political Dominance Model, village model and
adversarial model.

10.2 Implications/ Interpretations

This paper is a simplified illustration of Political-Administrative Relations in Tanzanian LGAs.
The study has reinforced the assertion that arriving at a consensus on the relationship between
Politicians/Councillors and administrators/Bureaucrats at the local government level is a mirage
for now; and that the debate on political -Administrative relations is far from over going by the
responses of appointed officials, there is preference for one model or the other. Although a big
number of local government Administrators/Bureaucrats consider partnership between
politicians/Councillors and Administrators/Bureaucrats in policy formulation and
implementation as viable, quite a significant number see the active involvement of politicians in
the implementation process as interference and vice versa.
The central Government, ruling party still have a big say on the general functioning of the
Councils in Tanzania. In the course of multiparty, the political maturity is yet to be in place. In
this matter political representatives are having hard time to cope each and in so doing the true
society development is questionable and shall take a long time to be realized.

Nevertheless, politics are deepening on the community , only if the community will be educated
enough on the importance of true democracy and say their leaders embrace it effectively and
efficiently , anything is possible in due time. The corrupt minds and irresponsibility are still
hunting down the public servants, the politicians and the community at large hence a need to
reverse the wheel. Who gona do this? This is still a question to be answered unless the above
interpretations worked on, the council people and their destination is at stake.

10.3 Recommendations
The study came up with following suggestions for the improvement of general functioning of
Local Government Authorities in Tanzania.
i. In order to restore morals and ethics of public staff, the education curriculum from
primary schools to universities should be reviewed to incorporate morals and ethics
aspects in them. The general public have just lost morals and no ethics to govern the
general public conducts in place now. Public staff should attend orientation course on the
public services, the one conducted by Institute of Development Mzumbe by then before
being engaged in the public offices.

64
 ii. Politics should be a career like other careers; anyone wishing to take up political position
should go to school. Kivukoni Political College should be used to recruit politicians by
special programmes whether on short courses or long term courses to produce competent
politicians who will be productive rather than dictators or power mongers wishing to
fulfil their person interests.
iii. The wards should be given power to account for its developments. Collections of
revenues and management of those funds as per wards developments plan should be the
responsibility of the wards. Equip wards with competent staff in all departments to
deliver accordingly. The wards are the once working directly with people so they should
be given heavy weight. However, the difference of wards in terms development should be
foreseen and be dealt with. The wards with heavy investments should provide or submit a
set percent to the council so as take care of other less developed wards.
iv. The Local Government system has no substitute under this sun so should be respected
and strengthened. It is the system that reaches common people more than any other
system in place in world. Nevertheless, the majority administrators prefer the absence of
Councillors in the system. They see them as nuisance. Their main point is that so long as
there are Executives secretaries at wards and streets/villages are quite enough. Other say
if presence of Councillors still important for political purposes then should be there but
engage in parties activities only do not interfere with staff in the day to day functioning of
the wards and streets/villages. A good example is during campaigns, after the dissolving
the parliament by president, all offices remains in the hands of administrators and in most
case functioning of the council go well.
v. The introduction of Local Government system had to undergo several trials, that let say
have ten years of piloting the presence of Councillors in the system and compare with
another ten years of the system working without with Councillors . From here weigh the
advantages accrued from both periods and determine the better future implementation of
the system. We are losing a lot of technical people joining politics, have we asked our
self how much the national loose by engaging one professor in politics and abandon his
profession either for training more specialists or serving peoples’ life??
vi. Create community awareness through special programmes in short terms bases or long
bases. This aims at changing the attitudes and behaving in the community.
vii. All public servants should start from LGAs then up into central government

10.3 Limitations
There were few non responses from few politicians and some were quite busy. The researchers
tried several times to seek audience with them without success. Some respondents did not want
the responses to be recorded

65
10.4 Suggestions for future Research
The capacity of the wards and streets to manage their own resources and hence work as
independent satellites of the councils

66
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Appendices
Annex 1: Tools for data collections

Interview guide for;

District Commissioner/Region Commissioner

1. What are your responsibilities in relation to local government? (Probe; control/influence
on the decisions, involvement in the decisions, just receiving reports, the working
experience in the council)

2. In your opinion what do you find most interesting or dissatisfying in the general
functioning of the local government? (The relationships between staff and Councillors
and their effects in the decisions, the performance of the council, effect of political
affiliations).

3. How do you see the working relationship of Councillors and staff in the local
government?

4. How is the relationship of staff and Councillors affecting the decisions of the council?

5. Do you find the expected involvement of the opposition parties in the development
activities in the district/ council?

6. During hard times or critical situations does the system give you a vote position to
influence the decision making for better solutions? Or there is an alternative stand?

Member of Parliament (MP)

1. What roles do you play as citizen’s representative? (Probe; control/influence on the
decisions, involvement in the decisions, just receiving reports, the working experience in
the council)

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 2. In your opinion what do you find most interesting or dissatisfying in the general
functioning of the local government? (The relationships between staff and Councillors
and their effects in the decisions, the performance of the council, effect of political
affiliations).

3. How does the combination of staff and politicians work in the council?

4. What is your experience of working with oppositions in the council?

5. How is the relationship of staff and Councillors affecting the decisions of the council?

6. During hard times or critical situations does the system give you a vote position to
influence the decision making for better solutions?

7. What other general reservations /comments on the functioning of the Local Government?

Council chairperson
1. How long have you been working with this council?

2. What are the major roles and responsibilities you have in this council?

3. How do you relate with staff in day-to-day functions of the council? (Probe Councillors
Vs Staffs relationship)

4. What support do you get from staffs (DEDs)? (Probe capacity of staffs, how he/she
support staffs)

5. What do you find interesting or dissatisfying in the general functioning of the Council?(
Probe- what happen working with staff, working with opposition party)

6. How the identified relationships affect the decisions of councilor?

7. Is there time you are required to stand still or vote against decisions that you are
convinced not viable to stone the development of the council? Do you a good experience
to share?

8. What other general reservations /comments on the functioning of the Local Government?

Councillors
1. How long have you been working with this council?

2. What are the major roles and responsibilities you have in this council?
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 3. How do you relate with staff in day-to-day functions of the council? (Probe Councillors
Vs Staffs relationship)

4. What support do you get from staff? (Probe capacity of staff, how he/she support staff)

5. What do you find interesting or dissatisfying in the general functioning of the Council?
(Probe- what happen working with staff, working with opposition party)

6. How do you get involved in the decision making process with staff in the council?

7. How the identified relationships affect the decisions of councilor?

8. Is there time you are required to stand still or vote against decisions that you are
convinced not viable to stone the development of the council? Do you a good experience
to share?

9. What other general reservations /comments on the functioning of the Local Government?

District Executive Director and Head of Departments

1. How long have you been working with this council?

2. How do you relate with Councillors in day-to-day functions of the council? (Probe
Councillors vs Staff relationship, roles relations)

3. Does the political system at district level facilitate the implementation of your
responsibilities?

4. What support do you get from Councillors ? (Probe capacity of Councillors , how he/she
support Councillors )

5. From experience what you find works better or not in the council as far as the Local
Government System is concerned? (Probe- what happen working with Councillors )

6. How does decision making process affect the decisions of council? (Probe agenda setting,
professionalism/capacity, final decision making)

7. Is there time you are required to stand still or vote against decisions that you are
convinced not viable to stone the development of the council? Do you a good experience
to share?

8. What other general reservations /comments on the functioning of the Local Government?

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