The Political Context of Financing Infrastructure Development in ...

The Political Context of Financing Infrastructure Development in Local Government
services or the implementation of projects in their areas. These are legal niceties which do
not necessary translate into practical realities. Cases in point include the construction of the
hydro-electricity dams in Kanungu district on river Ishasha and the construction of hydro
electricity dam on river Nyagak in the newly created Zombo district in the West Nile region.
In both cases the local councils are like any other bystander. They largely simply watch what
is taking place. They can neither determine the pace of construction nor the engineering
designs. In effect therefore, they do not regulate these projects. The projects are controlled
and regulated from the centre. This shows that regardless of the law, the old saying that;
“whoever pays the piper calls the tune” still holds even when the governance system (regime)
confesses devolution. While this may be imbedded in the politics of decentralization and
national politics in an attempt to portray who is delivering what and therefore deserves a pat
on the back by way of the number of votes in appreciation, it also revolves around the question
of where power lies in the decentralized system with regard to infrastructure development
and service delivery especially when resources are provided by one party dominated central
government. The case of Jinja Municipality and Paidha town council can illustrate this.
In Jinja municipality when the central market was burnt, the Municipal Council made plans
to reconstruct it. The Islamic Bank was ready to fund the project but the Municipality could
not go ahead because the central government frustrated the project partly because the
Leadership of the Municipality did not belong to the ruling party 3 . Although the market is now
being reconstructed by funds from the African Development Bank, it is under the auspices of
the central government. Though the municipal engineer is coordinating the reconstruction
project, council does not play a significant role. This is partly because of political and power
dynamics and lack of own funds to implement the project.
In the case of Paidha Town Council, to tarmac the road in the town, the money was got from
the road fund. The central government went ahead and selected the contractor but gave the
money to pay the contractor to the town council. 4 Since payment was to be made by the town
council, ideally they are supposed to have played their oversight function. In reality however,
the town council only acted as a conduit to pay the contractor. The contractor’s allegiance
was not to the council but to the central government which selected the company. In an
interview with the Town Clerk of Paidha, he revealed that the council has fiscal autonomy
only over local revenue, which is actually meagre. For example, according to the LGFC (2009)
the contribution of Local revenues to the total urban local government budget is between 30
percent and 40 percent while for rural local governments, contribution of local revenue to
the budgets is between 2percent and 3 percent. While contribution to the budget appears a
bit high for urban local governments, some urban local governments are far below average.
3 Interview with the Private Secretary of the Mayor of Jinja Municipality and the Senior Planner Jinja Municipal Council.
4 Information obtained during a consultative meeting with the technical staff and political leaders of Paidha town council held in the town
on 8th January 2010 during the urban situation Analysis study commissioned by MoLG.
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Economic Policy Research Centre - EPRC