Political Decentralisation and Service Delivery in Nakaseke District

ABSTRACT The study was “political decentralization and services delivery in Nakaseke District”. It set out to determine the impact of political decentralisation on service delivery in Nakaseke district, and was carried out with three objectives, namely; to examine the level of local people’s political involvement in Nakaseke district; determine the benefits of political decentralization in Nakaseke district, identify the challenges faced by locals in political decentralization in Nakaseke district The design of the study was a case study design, Simple random, purposive, stratified and systematic sampling techniques were used and the sample size was 283 people, where, 184 people were locals, 45 people were local leaders, 39 were opinion leaders and 15 were civil servants. Data was collected from both primary and secondary sources using questionnaires and government officials and civil servants provided secondary data records. The study found out that, local people in Nakaseke district are politically involved through avenues like local council elections, local council sessions involvement in decision making, and involvement in project implementation although a lot more needs to be done to avoid the challenges established like low sensitization, interference from the central government leaders, electoral rigging and inadequacy of council meetings, so as to increase the benefits of political decentralization. This study further established that, local council elections, council session, involvement in decision making and project implementation are fora good enough for political involvement and services delivery enhancement, if there is clear definition of key roles among different stakeholders in project implementation like in UPE, USE and NAADS. This study for these reasons above recommended that, public accountability be enhanced for public projects, sensitization of local people be given priority, council meetings increased and role setting be streamlined for better service delivery under political decentralization in Nakaseke district.

TABLE OF CONTENT

DECLARATION A

DECLARATION B ii

APPROVAL SHEET v

DEDICATION vi

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT vii

LIST OF TABLES x

LIST OF ACRONYMS xi

ABSTRACT xiii

One THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE 1

Statement of the problem 6

Purpose of the study 7

Objectives of the Study 7

Research questions: 8

Research hypotheses 8

Scope of the study 8

Significance of the study 9

Two LITERATURE REVIEW 10

Introduction 10

Concepts, ideas and opinions from other Authors 10

The Concept of Political decentralisation 11

Theoretical perspective 15

Related Studies 16

Three METHODOLOGY 26

Introduction 26

Research Design 26

Area and Population of Study 26

Sampling Techniques 28

Methods of Data Collection 29

Data Collection Instruments 30

viii

Methods of Data Collection 30

Data Validity 31

Data processing and Analysis 31

Data Analysis 32

Ethical Considerations 32

Limitations of the Study 32

Four DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTEPRETATION 34

The profile of respondents during the study; 34

Local People’s Political involvement 38

Benefits of political decentralization in Nakaseke district 46

Challenges faced by local people in political decentralization. 48

Five SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 52

Introduction 52

Summary of the findings 52

Conclusions 54

Recommendations 55

Areas for further research 56

REFERENCES 57

APPENDICES 60

Appendix IA: Transmittal Letter 60

Appendix 1B: Transmittal Letter For Respondents 61

Appendix II: Research Instrument 62

Appendix III: Acceptance Letter 66

Appendix IV: Time Frame 67

Appendix V: Budget 68

Appendix VI: Researcher’s Curriculum Vitae 69