Decentralisation, Local Governance and Development: An Aspect of Development

Communities need a holistic approach to address the problems that affect the people at the grass root. The planning of the direct beneficiaries involves decentralization in order to allow the lower power centers to widely take part in the development of society. Concerns of the grass root people form the need for decentralization and local governance. People’s involvement in the planning on the village level and all local government units, makes the identification and solving of the problem easier. High participatory levels of all the people especially the marginalized, encourages innovation to source for the appropriate solutions to the common problems that face society. It therefore calls a decentralized system that caters for the voters’ preferences while providing for their services. The people’s concerns call for local planning and the transfer of power to the public so that services are brought nearer to the people. This study will cover the aspects of local government and decentralization such as good governance, democratization, civil society, deconcentration, devolution and delegation, and its relation to the development of societies.



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Chapter 4.2, Civil Society:

According to Moyo (1996), the concept civil society to be a ‘free association’ or ‘a self-organization’ or ‘a political community’.

In this case the civil society is taken as a political community capable of accommodating a variety of individual and associational interests within a pluralist or at least multi centric social frame work in such greater common public good.

Despite the diverse conceptualizations of civil society amongst scholars, there is a consensus that it must be independent of the state. It articulates and defends civil interests; it is not necessarily in basic contradiction to the state. The major interest of the greater part of civil society is not to capture state power but to check its abuse as well as to influence the formulation and implementation of public policy. At the same time civil society is not the same as society. It refers to the political realm specifically the means and process through which citizens shape character of political and economic life in their country.

The pressure and strength of civil society can be verified by the existence and dynamism of organizations such as NGO’s, professional and private sector associations and trade unions. To determine the level of decentralization, it is necessary to identify the degree of autonomy and amount of powers, resources and functions that are devolved to local governments to manage their local affairs. Although this is not easy, several indicators of autonomy can be used to give an idea to how decentralization may be assessed. The following questions must be asked:

Are the political leaders of the local governments elected by central government? Decentralization should guarantee the existence and proper functioning of elected local leadership.

How much autonomy do the local governments have in the management of the human resource?

What legal powers do the local authorities have? Can they take important decisions without having to seek permission from the central government? Decentralization should ensure autonomy in decision making at the local government level.

What is the degree of their financial autonomy? Do they have any specific sources of revenue? Can they borrow or receive grants from the state? Are the sources for local governments constitutionalised or just decided by the central government.

Does the political system in the country favor decentralization or centralization?

4.3, Good governance, Decentralization, Democratization and Civil society linkages:

Munshi etal, (2009 : 1) emphasizes that governance has gained prominence public debates around the world in recent times because of its importance.

When the paradigms of good governance, decentralization, democratization and civil society are closely analyzed, it becomes evident that they all seek to empower the people to exercise as much influence as possible on their social political and economic destiny. In other words, political, legal, technical and even technological empowerment is the meeting point of good governance, decentralization, civil society and democratization. Anders, (2011) puts it that disconnect between formal and informal institutions that largely explains the problems in capacity building and institutional performance in both the public and private sectors in Africa. Good governance therefore makes it possible for capacity building for economies to grow.

Decentralization is the process that depending on its objectives and the way it is implemented and the prevailing environment, may lead to the installation of the political administrative frame work for good governance. However decentralization is not synonymous with good governance, neither is it the same thing with democratization.

If decentralization does not lead to the empowerment of the people, then it cannot constitute good governance. It can also not contribute to democratization or strengthening of the civil society. Decentralization enhances democratic practices and good governance. It serves as a tool of empowering the population at the grass root level with vested responsibilities of allocating resources and discharging outlined duties.

Good governance must be underpinned by a democratic system of government but democracy cannot thrive unless space is given to civil society to operate effectively. The efficiency of civil society is enhanced by the process of empowerment that is fostered by decentralization. Empowerment awakens the society’s right to monitor and sanction government. Decentralization especially when it takes the form of devolution, promotes good governance to the extent that it takes the form of devolution promotes good governance to the extent that it creates conditions for the immergence of independent associations and interest groups at all levels of society, it also creates opportunities for a democratic monitoring process.

Decentralization places the decision making centres nearer to the beneficiaries and therefore create opportunities for these beneficiaries to gain access to the decision making elites and thus increase chances for effective accountability and transparency in the conduct of public affairs.

Decentralization and good governance share some imperatives and rationale, good governance is a pre requisite for realization of sustainable and equitable development. Decentralization serves and enhances good governance to the extent that it helps to create a conducive atmosphere for good governance.

Conditions for good governance include high participatory approach and adoption of policies and action programs with an aim of promoting the welfare and security of the people. Implementation and formulation of government policies and the creation of institutional capacity is broad based and encompasses political freedom, maintenance of the rule of law and sustainable growth of society.