On Liberation and Decentralization

It seems like a common policy move for good governance initiatives in developing countries is decentralization.  It is touted as a catch-all solution to the needs of a country, simultaneously empowering local leaders while improving service delivery to poor, often remote constituents. I would not argue that it is an ineffective tool, but perhaps it is not right in all settings.

In Uganda, decentralization began after Yoweri Museveni took power from the military Junta that followed the great and terrible Idi Amin.  In an effort to improve transparency and efficacy of government action, a large-scale decentralization was put in place.  This article by political science students at Makerere University provides good background and context for the policy.  The government took action in the mid 90's by passing a law to enact decentralization, and that is when it began to take hold. 

One of the primary issues with decentralization is that there is not always sufficient training in rural and underserved area to take on the new administrative burdens that come with decentralization.  Well trained bureaucrats are reticent about leaving Kampala, and as such, people working in local governments do not have the same levels of education or capacity that their counterparts in the capital have.  IFPRI's paper about service delivery and decentralization touches on this nicely.

So, what do you get when you have local officials overburdened with bureaucratic tasks, not fully supported by the central government, and lacking capacity?  You get a lot of frustrated Ugandans who see potential for elite capture, nepotism, and the opportunity to milk the system.  It is an unfortunate scenario, but it is true.  Of course not all locally elected officials are this way, many serve the district and their country honestly, with a lot of integrity.  I am writing about this, however, because of the most recent example of some bureaucrats who did not act with the same decorum.

As part of the Village Enterprise program we help form business savings groups.  Business Savings Groups (BSGs) are similar to Village Savings and Lending Associations (VSLAs), except we are starting them with income generating units.  Those are the village enterprise businesses.  Each BSG is comprised of 10 businesses.  Each business is comprised of 3 business owners.  That means each BSG has 30 members.  As a good practice, we encourage the BSGs to register with the subcounty.  This ensures them some legal arbitration if there are disputes in the group, and it often facilitates the group's access loans from formal financial institutions.

Recently, I went to visit a BSG near our office in Western Uganda, and I was told a very sad story.  The BSG went to register at the subcounty, and the officials in the office charged the double the amount required for registering.  They looked at our businesses owners, saw how they were dressed, and knew they were rural villagers.  As such, they told them the price was double so that they could use the extra money to line their pockets, assuming the business owners would be too illiterate in general, and especially in local law to know they were being swindled.  However, when this was reported to their business mentor who had been training them for months, he went straight to the subcounty and was able to get their money back.

People are poor in Uganda, and a government worker in a local office makes a very low salary.  However, there is entitlement that comes with that sort of position, and a perception of power and prestige.  In the case of this BSG, all those things were wielded to milk the BSG for extra money.  Poor were stealing from the extreme poor.  Now, I am not advocating that taking away decentralization as a policy would remedy this.  In fact, I am sure it would be even harder to get our BSGs registered and backed as official organizations if there was no decentralized government.  However, decentralization with no checks, balances, or training leads to corruption and vice.

I am thinking about all this as today is Liberation Day in Uganda.  The NRM took power from the military junta and returned to a democracy.  This is a loose interpretation of democracy, given that the current president has been the president since Uganda was liberated 29 years ago.  It seems like there is still a lot of liberation to be done.  So, we keep after it, one day at a time.

BSG in Training