Volume 8 Number 1 September 2014

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Challenges to policy implementation in Uganda: Reﬂections on politics and the State
(Uganda Management Institute, 2014-09) Khisa, Moses
Like many African countries, Uganda faces the problem of poor or failed implementation of state polices and government programmes. There is a big gulf between policy making and actual implementation. This article locates the source of the problem in the nature of Uganda’s contemporary politics under the regime of President Yoweri Museveni. The article argues that at the root of poor policy implementation is the failure to build robust institutional capacity through a merit-based public system. To understand Uganda’s weak implementation capacity, we need to look at the politics of elite-inclusion and “broad-base” that started with the “Movement” no-party system. By prioritizing the politics of “broad-base,” Museveni’s regime opened up the Ugandan society to wider elite political participation and mass representation, and achieved modest progress in institutionalizing decision/policy-making power. However, simultaneously, the politics of “broad-base” also engendered patronage politics and endemic corruption, which have greatly compromised building the institutional capacity to implement policies and programs. Since 1986, the idea of “broad-base” as the founding approach of power sharing became an entrenched strategy of keeping state power even after reverting to multiparty politics in 2005. The net outcome has been the continuation of deleterious patronage-politics at odds with the imperatives of a development-oriented state.
Democratic deﬁcits and public conﬁdence in public institutions in Uganda: Implications of accountability on public conﬁdence in the Uganda Local Government Institution
(Uganda Management Institute, 2014-09) Kiwanuka, Michael
There is a general belief by scholars and practitioners alike that the notable declining public conﬁdence in public institutions in developing countries like Uganda is a consequence of democratic deﬁcits in institutional governance. This belief is more so, because democratic deﬁcits like deﬁciencies in accountability systems, stiﬂes capacities of democratic systems to evolve and reform into effective and legitimate agents of citizens. Accountability is a fundamental virtue of good governance and an important cornerstone in democratic systems. The paper analyzes the impact of accountability on public conﬁdence within the context of Uganda’s local government Institution. The analysis of accountability practices and experiences suggests that public conﬁdence in the institution of local governments in Uganda is on the down ward trend. This is partly due to the inherent democratic deﬁcits with respect to accountability deﬁciencies in local government institutions. The paper concludes that: the widening gap between citizen preferences and services delivered; the big social service backlogs; the mockery of citizen participation; and high levels of corruption are already having a big toll on citizens’ trust and eroding public conﬁdence in the local government institution. The paper recommends that developing countries like Uganda should demonstrate commitment to social accountability by strengthening the citizen voice and support meaningful engagement of non-state actors alongside formal government systems.
Determinants of tax effort in developing countries: Empirical evidence from Uganda
(Uganda Management Institute, 2014-09) Agaba, Samuel Bakehena; Kaberuka, William
Tax effort is the exertion that a country puts into collecting revenue that is necessary to meets its expenditure demands for sustainable development. One of the reforms that the World Bank recommends to DCs aimed at augmenting their revenue is a tax reform. Towards this endeavour, Uganda has carried out a number of tax reforms; but its tax share to GDP has not only remained low and stagnant at about 12 per cent but has also not matched her expenditure demands. This has led to high ﬁscal deﬁcits which have persisted over the years. This study was carried out using time series data obtained from the World Bank’s Development Indicators 2010 CD-RM. A multivariate regression model was used in the analysis to identify the determinants of tax effort in Uganda. The ﬁndings of the study revealed that lagged tax effort measured by tax-GDP ratio, share of agriculture to GDP, GDP per capita, openness to trade and external debt stock signiﬁcantly affect tax effort. Increase in the other mentioned variables augurs well with tax effort in Uganda. However, services and manufacturing sectors’ share to GDP were found not to signiﬁcantly affect tax effort. The study recommends that if Uganda is to improve her tax effort to the levels of other Sub-Saharan African countries, she needs to invest in areas that would signiﬁcantly increase GDP per capita. Investment incentives should be provided to the agricultural sector with the view to commoditizing the sector and hence bringing it under the tax net. Uganda should also review the policies regarding the currently offered tax breaks and exemptions with a view to retaining only those that have a productive effect on the development of manufacturing and service sectors.
The effect of business regulatory standards on export trading by small enterprises: A comparative analysis of Africa and Uganda
(Uganda Management Institute, 2014-09) Mutunzi, Ahmed Kitunzi
This article investigates the relationship between regulatory standards affecting export trade and the proportion of exporting SMEs with a focus on Africa and especially Uganda. The study is principally a global comparative analysis of business regulations and exporting SMEs with a focus on Uganda and the rest of Africa and employs a triangulation of quantitative research methodologies. The study results reveal that the number of export documents, time (days) and cost of export trading in Uganda and other African countries are relatively deterrent to export trading by a substantial fraction of SMEs. Hence, it is recommendable that Uganda and the rest of Africa implement persistent, diligent, deliberate, and competitive deregulation of export trading by reducing the number of export documents, time (days) and cost of exporting so as to enable more of their SMEs to engage in export trading. Such reforms will lead to sustainable growth of SMEs and economies.
Identifying the internal environment components critical to realizing the planned performance of Micro-Finance Institutions in Uganda
(Uganda Management Institute, 2014-09) Kwagala, Milly
The nature of a ﬁrm’s internal environment is known to be a major determinant of its performance. It is, however, not always clear which components of this environment are critical and therefore need more managerial attention if a ﬁrm is to realize its planned performance. Consequently, this article focuses on establishing these components for micro-ﬁnance institutions in Uganda. The article has been compiled from a study conducted empirically about the massive closure of these institutions which caused government and client concern, as explained by their management. Concisely, the ﬁndings indicate that the components that critically affect the realization of the planned performance of a micro-ﬁnance institution in Uganda include the ethical orientation of institutions’ managers, the nature of the relationship that the managers keep with their subordinates, and the level of authority given to employees to execute assigned responsibilities. All these components relate to the quality of the institutions’ internal supervision, implying that if the institutions are to realize their performance as planned, their management has to ensure that their internal supervision is of the best possible quality.
Political decentralization and service delivery: Evidence from Agago District, Uganda
(Uganda Management Institute, 2014-09) Obicci, Peter Adoko
Does political decentralization improve the provision of service delivery? Many developing countries have taken to political decentralization as an instrument of development that plays a central role in increasing citizens’ involvement in policy development and decision making as well as holding their leaders to account. However, the basis upon which it can be relied upon to improve service delivery remains a big puzzle to many practitioners. This study uses the factors of decision making, participation and accountability to uncover how political decentralization can promote service delivery. Based on intensive interviews with local stakeholders in ten sampled local governments in Agago District in Northern Uganda as well as survey, the study uncovered a complex interplay of conditions that impact service delivery in a political decentralization dispensation. The results reveal that political decentralization can be used as an instrument to promote the provision of service delivery. Furthermore, decentralization is shown to have had signiﬁcant effect on service delivery in the ten local governments examined in the study. However, the study needs generalization on a larger scale.
State and society relations in Uganda’s political-economic transitions: Structures, processes and outcomes of governance since 1986
(Uganda Management Institute, 2014-09) Opolot, Samson James
The article discusses the nature and dynamics of structures and processes of state and society relations in Uganda and the political and economic outcomes in the country. Empirical data from the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)/Expert Opinion Survey (EOS) and Focus Group Discussions in Uganda that was compiled in 2011 are among those analyzed. In addition, literature on these state structures (executive, legislature and judiciary) and on elections as spaces, processes and institutions for deﬁning, arbitrating and determining outcomes of structure and processes of governance, with emphases on the 18 February 2011 and prior to the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections are also used to triangulate the ﬁndings and enrich the discussion. In addition, the results from a recent study on ‘Uganda @ 50’ conducted by the Centre for Basic Research (CBR) are used to fore ground the opinions of Ugandans on the contemporary social structures and political trends in the country. The conclusion is that in spite of the considerable politico-administrative reforms in Uganda especially from 1986 to 2005, there are strong indications of regressions in the quality of governance since then that warrant concern for the future democratization in Uganda. Some notable reforms during the pre-2006 period included signiﬁcant trends towards decentralization, the return to multiparty political systems, and the development of a progressive constitution with pronounced frameworks for pursuing democratic governance through accountable and transparent institutions of governance. Most of these constitutional provisions are now being reversed. Uganda today demonstrates the trappings of a post-colonial non-democratic state in which state structures serve partisan interests. The army takes centre stage in politics and in turn enables the authoritarian character of the state where elections have become mere pretences and a mockery of substantive democratization. The independence of the three arms of the state is simply pretentious and highly circumscribed by the NRM to be used at will in legitimizing its hold onto power. Unless these trends change, the country could revert to its tyrannical past.

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