Factors that Influence Service Delivery Indecentralized Democratic Local Governmentsin Uganda: a Case Study of Aloi Sub-County, Alebtong District

Abstract

The study generally assessed the factors that influence service delivery in Decentralized Democratic local Governments in Aloi sub county, Alebtong District, Uganda. A case study design was employed in order to examine the indicators of service delivery in AloiSub County, the role of leaders in service delivery in this sub county. This employed questionnaires and interviews to collect the data from a population of 60 as a sample size.

This research found that there are indicators of Decentralized Democratic Governancein Aloi Sub-County which includethe existence of the rule of the people, the practice of free and fair elections, the existence of an independent judiciary institution, the existence of independent legislature, the practice of political decentralization, the existence of fiscal decentralization, the practice of economic decentralization and administrative decentralization.Further, findings reveal that the effects of decentralized democratic government on service delivery inAloi Sub-County compriseof; poverty alleviation, reduced corruption, improved achievement scores, encouraged players like NGOs in development, existence of proper allocation and utilization of funds, increased tribalism and increased employment opportunities. Furthermore, thisresearch found that the role of elected leadersconsists of recruiting and hiring at local level, providing civic education, supervision and provisionof basic services to citizens. Finally, thisresearch found out that the challenges of decentralized democratic governanceincluded; limited resources, limited institutional capacity, low salaries and ineffective accountability.

This research made the following recommendations: that the local governmentemploys an affirmative policy that will educate and train its employees and the community about their various job descriptions, and educate and train the community on its rolesin improving service delivery.Through training, the local governmentwill invest the available human resources and create awareness to the community that willin turn improve the implementation of decentralized democratic governance, mitigate the challenges of decentralized democratic governanceand enhanceservice delivery not only in Aloi Sub-County, Alebtong District, but in theentire country, Uganda. Finally, thisresearch recommends that the government of Uganda composes ethical principles and also ensure that all decentralizedlocal governments subscribe to the body of ethical principles, educate the Ugandan Population about the role of ethical principles on decentralized system of governance, carry out mass awareness programmes about decentralized system of governance, increase budgetary allocation to government institutions and establish community polytechnicsso as to realize the existence ofindicators of decentralized democratic governance, and indicators of service delivery as well.

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