Introduction
The process of creating many districts with an aim of ensuring that services are extended to people as per the question reflection, is called “Decentralisation.” Therefore, Decentralisation is a process of dispersing decision making and implementation from the central government to lower government units[1]
Therefore with the creation of these many districts, the Local Governments Act has been enacted, to amend, consolidate and streamline the existing law on local governments in line with the Constitution to give effect to decentralisation and devolution of functions, powers and services; to provide for decentralisation at all levels of local of local governments to ensure good governance and democratic participation in, and control of, decision making by the people; to provide for revenue and the political and administrative setup of local governments; and to provide for election of local councils and for any other matters connected to the above.
Promoting accountability of public officials, creating efficiency in government operations, allowing optimum utilisation of resources, among various others have been realised through the creation of many districts. As many districts are being created, services through different phenomenon is realised as objectives, and these include; Planning-developing plans, Financial-revenue collection, budgeting, accounting and reporting, Administrative-making bye-laws and ordinance, Judicial-local administration of justice through local council courts
With the decentralisation based on creation of many districts in Uganda, particular different laws have been put in place to ensure proper service delivery in these districts, and of which this has had relevance to proper service delivery as follows;
Article 179[2] makes provision for the creation of new districts based on the necessity for effective administration and the need to bring services closer to people. The provision lays a ground or puts in place the principles of decentralisation, of which this provides that the local government shall be based on the district, lower local government and administrative units as parliament may by law provide. To them more districts mean that more basic services (healthcare, schools, roads and so on) are brought closer to the people since the Local Government is responsible for the provision of these services through the efficient management of the district area, hence ensuring proper service delivery to the people all over the country.
The Constitution 1995 and the Local Governments Act, provides that the district is to be a unit of decentralisation and they spelt out the function devolved to local governments and the applicable funding mechanisms. The ideal was to involve the people in the way they were governed so that they were involved in decision making, identifying their own problems, setting priorities, planning their implementation and monitoring, ensuring better utilization of resources both financial and human, ensuring value for money through participation, transparency and accountability. This initiative has greatly ensured proper service delivery to the people in such districts created, since such funding is allocated to areas of best interest as per the district tenacity.
Article 193[3] provides for Unconditional grant, Conditional grants andEqualisation grants. These grants have influenced the local governments to have the financial resources to provide services to the local people while taking into account local challenges and priorities. An example of such, as per Article 193 (4), is the equalization grant which is given to districts with special challenges such as war torn areas or special areas like Luwero- that has resulted into the creation of a special independent ministry of Luwero Triangle Affairs. Therefore, with such developments of districts’ creation, there has been a realisation of proper service delivery to the people, unlike if it was the central government taking charge.
The Local Governments Act Cap 243, provides that the chairperson shall assign one of the secretaries to be responsible for health and children welfare in the district, and also not forgetting that every district is given a District Health Officer. The general argument for decentralizing health care is the potential for improved service quality and coverage; yet the issues of, one, exactly how these benefits can be realized, and two, the specific impact of different health system reforms are not well understood. Several features of health care (e.g., the controversial nature of some services such as family planning, the importance of formal training for personnel, and the integrated nature of services make decentralization in this area more complex and potentially more difficult than in other sectors. The decentralization of such medical facilities and services has extended efficient proper service delivery to all people in the country, and this has all been by creation of many districts.
Section 39 of the Local Governments Act gives lower Council Governments powers to make bye laws. These include laws that govern the finances of a particular district, which fund the running of the various district operations. Such, influence the transferring resources to ensure local government’s ability to carry out responsibilities, setting minimum requirements for expenditure on maintenance and training in order to assure consistent quality and sustainability, therefore those laws have helped in ensuring proper delivery of services to the people, since such laws are created basing on the standards and statuses of the people within a given area.
Also the Education Act, 2008, provides for systems of extending service delivery to all people in the districts. Creation of many districts, encourages also the decentralization of education systems demands harmonization of a complex set of functions, each for primary, secondary, tertiary, and non-formal education. Issues of how far to devolve decision-making in each of these subsectors, and to whom, continue to be debated. There are a number of ongoing experiments in Uganda, ranging from devolution of limited functions to intermediate governments and local governments, to community-based management and financing of schools. The current consensus is that tertiary education, and specific functions such as curriculum design and standards setting are best retained by the center; secondary and primary education should be devolved as far as possible; local participation in school management improves accountability, and responsiveness, and fosters resource mobilization. Therefore, this has greatly enhanced proper service delivery to people in all areas of the country thus reducing the illiteracy rates which are a danger to a country.
In conclusion, it is evident that with the creation of many districts in Uganda, there has been also creation of various laws that have ensured proper service delivery to people compared to how it would be if it was the central government in charge. All these laws have been aimed at extending service delivery to people, hence having greatly influenced the participation of these districts in extending service deliveries to the people on the ground which would be difficult for the central government to effect very well. Therefore, decentralisation enables creation of laws that make such objectives practicable.
By
ARYAMANYA RODRICK,
LLB-3, BSU-FACULTY OF LAW,
aryamanyarodrick21@gmail.com
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