Effective service delivery in local government requires competent elected leaders

By Naomi Asimo

The recent national elections presented a momentum by the urban and rural population both young and old to participate in the electoral process, a wave that will go down in Uganda's history.

Were citizens ready to bring aboard a body of leaders who would further transform the country or was it merely a development driven by the multiparty politics game? And what motivated the leaders to put up such a spirited fight, one in which majority candidates parted with millions of shillings to lure votes?

The citizens' vote which gives elected leaders the mandate to represent them serves as a social contract between the two parties, making elected leaders accountable to citizens for their decisions/actions.

Local council leaders (councillors) are a link between the grassroots and the national leadership. Their duties as stipulated in the 1997 Local Government Act (as amended) include: to legislate; consult with citizens on their development needs, and possible solutions; and monitor government-funded development programmes.

A councillor is therefore elected to represent a constituency they are assumed to reside in. With this proximity, it is assumed that they relate better with the geographical, ethnic and socio-economic needs and opportunities in these communities and hence are better positioned to make decisions on behalf of the people to improve the delivery of services in these areas. This is the ideology behind the decentralization policy.

However, the policy gives little regard to professional and academic abilities, resource availability and even experience yet these are critical for effective councils and committees and oversight of programmes implemented by academically qualified technocrats.

No wonder a number of councillors are drawn to politics more by the anticipated material benefits than the ability to bring about development. Now with the multiparty system, elections are driven more by political party affiliation than capability making several councillors pay more allegiance to their political parties than to the electorate. The ensuing intra and inter-party political competition has generated an unconducive political environment culminating into division, squabbles and conflicts that have undermined the functioning of several local councils and debilitated proactive development.

Research findings under the Local Government Councils' Scorecard Initiative, a social accountability initiative implemented by ACODE and ULGA, unravel weak councils and committees largely owing to financial and proficiency gaps.

The initiative, which monitors the performance of local councils, has consistently highlighted deficiency in the councillors' capacity to interpret technical documents, conduct council and committee business effectively and undertake meaningful monitoring of government programmes, which impairs their working relationship with the technical wing.

Leaders who are not well versed with their roles from the onset or those whose expectations, mostly material, are not met abandon their statutory duties only returning to their constituents to solicit re-election. Others engage in activities outside their mandate to meet their expectations and citizens' demands. The end result is poor delivery of services.

Local governments are the center to transforming our country and maximizing her economic potential. They therefore need empowered elected leaders with competence to understand their roles, interpret technical documents, draft ordinances, make well researched submissions during committee and council meetings, and manage conflicts; leaders capable of thinking outside the box to mobilize local resources and projects, engage citizens resourcefully and respond effectively to local development needs.

Local governments need more financial leverage; more resources and continuous capacity building to enable meaningful oversight over government's multi-billion shilling development programmes. Local governments need leaders with people's interests at heart, not those driven by political parties or material gains.

The writer is a research officer with ACODE