research consultancy in uganda
PUBLIC POLICY
Public policy making can be characterized as a dynamic, complex, and interactive system through which public problems are identified and countered by creating new public policy or by reforming existing public policy.
Public policy making is a continuous process that has many feedback loops. Verification and program evaluation are essential to the functioning of this system. The public problems that influence public policy making can be of economic, social, or political nature.
Public policy is the means by which a government maintains order or addresses the needs of its citizens through actions defined by its constitution.
Each system is influenced by different public problems and issues, and has different stakeholders; as such, each requires different public policy.
In any society, governmental entities enact laws, make policies, and allocate resources. This is true at all levels. Public policy can be generally defined as a system of laws, regulatory measures, courses of action, and funding priorities concerning a given topic promulgated by a governmental entity or its representatives.
Individuals and groups often attempt to shape public policy through education, advocacy, or mobilization of interest groups. Shaping public policy is obviously different in Western-style democracies than in other forms of government. But it is reasonable to assume that the process always involves efforts by competing interest groups to influence policy makers in their favor.
A major aspect of public policy is law. In a general sense, the law includes specific legislation and more broadly defined provisions of constitutional or international law. There are many ways that the law can influence how survivors of violence against women are treated and the types of services they receive. Likewise, legislation identifies areas in which research grants can be funded and often determines the amount of funding allocated. Thus, it is not surprising that public policy debates occur over proposed legislation and funding.
Public administration is what government does. As a profession, public administration has developed values and ethical standards, but as an activity it merely reflects the cultural norms, beliefs, and power realities of its society.
Public administration is the totality of the working day activities of all the world’s bureaucrats – whether they are legal or illegal, competent or incompetent, decent or despicable.
Public administration is both direct and indirect.
Direct – provision of services like mortgage insurance, mail delivery, and electricity.
Indirect – when the government pays private contractors to provide goods and services to citizens (space shuttle, dams).
Public administration is an aspect of the larger field of administration. It exists in a political system for the accomplishment of the goals and objectives formulated by the political decision makers. It is also known as governmental administration because the adjective „public‟ in the word „public administration‟ means „government‟. Hence, the focus of public administration is on public bureaucracy, that is, bureaucratic organization (or administrative organisation) of the government.
Public administration is an aspect of a more generic concept of administration.
Therefore, before understanding the meaning of public administration, it is necessary to understand the meaning of the word „administration‟. The English word „administer‟ is derived from a combination of two Latin words administrate meaning „ to serve’or „to manage’. Literally, the term administration‟ means management of affairs –public or private.
Public Administration is the art and science of management as applied to the affairs of the State.” He further observes. “The process of public administration consists of the actions involved in affecting the intent
or desire of a government. It is thus, the continuously active, „business‟ part of a government, concerned with carrying out the law as made by legislative bodies (or other authoritative agents) and interpreted by the courts, through the process of organization and management
Public Administration is the fulfillment or enforcement of public policy as declared by the competent authorities. It deals with the problems and powers of the organisation and techniques of management involved in carrying out the laws and policies formulated by the policy-making agencies of government. Public administration is the law in action. It is the executive side of a government.s
Administration is a determined action taken in pursuit of a conscious purpose. It is the systematic ordering of affairs and the calculated use of resources aimed at making those things happen which one wants to happen and foretelling to the contrary.
Improved service delivery is based on the premise that if decision points are brought nearer, to the people, decision makers can see better what is needed and how things need to be done. Rondinelli and Nellis et al. (1984) observe that in most cases, the private sector is more efficient and effective in providing public services. They add that delegating responsibility for planning to officials who are working closer to the problems helps overcome the severe shortfalls of multi-sectorial national planning and facilitates economic growth.
Public Administration Theory is the amalgamation of history, organizational theory, social theory, political theory and related studies focused on the meanings, structures and functions of public service in all its forms. It often recounts major historical foundations for the study of bureaucracy as well asepistemological issues associated with public service as a profession and as an academic field.
There are three different common approaches to understanding public administration: Classical Public Administration Theory, New Public Management Theory, and Postmodern Public Administration Theory, offering different perspectives of how an administrator practices public administration.
The relationship between public administration and public policy
Both public policy and public administration interest is to fight corruption, according to Transparency international, (2012) Uganda tops in corruption among the five countries under the East African community (EAC), a report by Transparency International has revealed. The Eat African Bribery Index 2012 launched Thursday afternoon in Kampala ranks Tanzania and Kenya in second and third positions respectively. Burundi was ranked fourth as Rwanda continues to record the best record in fighting corruption. A total of 9,303 respondents, mainly urban based and aged between 30 to 49 years, were sampled across the five countries in the survey conducted between March and May this year.
Consequently, Uganda registered the highest bribery levels with a percentage value of 40.7%, while Tanzania had 39.1%, Kenya 29.5%. Burundi, the worst ranked country last year recorded a significantly lower index of 18.8% this year. With an aggregate index of 2.5%, Rwanda remained the least bribery-prone country in the region. In Uganda, police remains the top most corrupt institution followed by the judiciary, tax services and the land services sectors.
Public Administration theory is derived from several contemporary theory building tools such as Max Weber’s Ideal type method. Theories are also derived from studies of evolving governments around the world, such as China’s expanding bureaucracy. Different aspects to take into account are: accountability, state-citizen relations, and services for all in times of fiscal scarcity. When developing theories, the most effective theories are the ones tailored for a particular country taking aspects such as values into account. When empirical evidence is the only aspect taken into account it leads to an ineffective policy because the theory will not reflect the values of the citizens, resulting in bad citizen- state relationships. The Theory-Gap Practice is used to analyze the correlations between Public Administration theory and practice. The three fields of the theory gap-practice that describe the relationship between scholars and practitioners are: Parallel, Transfer, and Collaboration strategy.
Both public administration and Public Policy Making are Very Complex Process, Policy making involves many components, which are interconnected by communication and feedback loops and which interact in different ways. Some parts of the process are explicit and directly observable, but many others proceed through hidden channels that the officials themselves are often only partly aware of. These hidden procedures are very difficult and often impossible to observe, Thus guidelines are often formed by a series of single decisions that result in a ‘policy’ without any one of the decision makers being aware of that process.
Both public policy administration face bureaucratic challenges, Weber, (2015) states that Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected officials, Today, bureaucracy is the administrative system governing any large institution. The public administration in many countries is an example of a bureaucracy. Bureaucracies have been criticized as being inefficient, convoluted, or too inflexible to individuals.
According to Ludwig von Mises compared bureaucratic management and profit management. Profit management, he argued, is the most effective method of organization when the services rendered may be checked by economic calculation of profit and loss. When, however, the service in question can not be subjected to economic calculation, bureaucratic management is necessary, He did not oppose universally bureaucratic management; he argued that bureaucracy, as such, is an indispensable method for social organization, for it is the only method by which the law can be made supreme, and is the protector of the individual against despotic arbitrariness. Using the example of the Catholic Church, he pointed out that bureaucracy is only appropriate for an organization whose code of conduct is not subject to change. He then went on to argue that what people commonly refer to as bureaucratization is, in fact, not the criticism of the bureocratic methods themselves, but “the intrusion of bureaucracy into all spheres of human life.” Mises saw bureaucratic processes at work in both the private and public spheres; however, he believed that bureaucratization in the private sphere could only occur as a consequence of government interference. According to him, “what must be realized is only that the strait jacket of bureaucratic organization paralyzes the individual’s initiative, while within the capitalist market society an innovator still has a chance to succeed. The former makes for stagnation and preservation of inveterate methods, the latter makes for progress and improvement.
Public administration and public policy both are involved in a Dynamic Process: Policy making is a process that is a continuing activity taking place within a structure; for sustenance, it requires a continuing input of resources and motivation. These are dynamic process, which changes with time. The sequences of its sub-processes and phases vary internally and with respect to each other. Most of the government policies may change due to emergencies for environment challenges and financial crisis may make the government design policy to help in the management of government programmes , According to the New Vision (10th August 2013), The landslide struck villages on the slopes of Mount Elgon, including Nameti, Kubewo, and Nankobe, with 85 homes being destroyed in Nameti. Many areas in the affected villages were buried by the landslides, with houses, markets, and a church destroyed; many roads were also blocked. Officials and aid workers have warned that there may be further landslides, as heavy rain continues to fall in the region., however during this period of the government desighned various policies to help be in position to curb an emergency situation however in the process the government also establishes administrative policies to help in the management of an unexpected occurrence of a calamity, this therefore brings to light that public administration and public policy are dynamic.
Both public administration and public policy are mainly formulated by Governmental Organs, they are also directed in part, at private persons and non-governmental structures, as ‘when it calls for a law prohibiting a certain type of behavior or appeals to citizens to engage in private saving. But public policy, in most cases, is primarily directed at governmental organs, and only intermediately and secondarily at other factors. Both public administration and Public policy is the outcome of the government’s collective actions. It means that it is a pattern or course of activity or’ the governmental officials and actors in a collective sense than being termed as their discrete and segregated decisions.
Some of the examples of the government formulated policies include the decisions taken by the military of a given country, the educational decisions of a give country and the Health decisions of a given country.
Both public policy and public administration, The power of patronage networks Local government is particularly vulnerable to capture by groups using informal or patrimonial relationships to exert undue influence over local decision-makers and erode accountability. Factors such as strong family ties or dynasties, the dominant influence of local leaders and cultural traditions of reciprocity, allied to the often lengthy tenure of local officials, can lead to elite state capture. Alternatively, local power relations may simply replicate those in place at the national level. In Liberia the appointment of county superintendents by the national political elite, rather than independently, means a key accountability mechanism to citizens is absent. Local officials are not inclined to consider themselves accountable to local communities, but tend to be more concerned with how national level leaders view them. Ultimately elite state capture of resources can contribute to ethnic division, instability and violence. Local decision-makers may use their power to discriminate against specific groups, for example by heavily taxing minorities
Both public administration and public policy are designed for the good of the citizens of the country for example environmental policies of a given country, Actually the scope of public policy is determined by the kind of role that the State adopts for itself in a society. In the classical capitalist society, State was assigned a limited role and it was expected that the State would merely act as a regulator of social and economic activity and not its promoter. With the advent of planned view of development, State began tp be perceived as an active agent in promoting and shaping societies in its various activities. This was considered as a great change in the role of a State. Public policies expanded their scope from merely one of regulation to that of development. Expansion in scope led to several other consequences like many more government agencies afld institutions came into being in order to formulate and implement policies. In India, the Planning Commission and its attendant agencies came into being in order to formulate policies and develop perspectives that could define the direction which the country would follow, So, the first major goal of public policies in acountry like india has been in the area of socio-economic development. Wide ranging policies were formulated in the area of industrial and agricultural development. Many policies were converted into Statutes. like Industrial Development and Regulating Act or Land Tenancy Act. Others were kept as directives in the various plan documents. For all policy directions, the Five Year Plans became the major source. These policies were of two types, one of regulation and the other of promotion. Laws laid down what could be done or not done by the entrepreneurs. This could be in the larger area like what goods can be produced by the public or whether certain goods can be tided only by government agencies. Laws also specified how State agencies themselves were to provide goods and services like electricity, transport etc. The State undertook similar responsibility in the social sphere, from the above findings it is therefore clear that public policy and administration are designed for the good of the citizens of a given country.
Both public policy and public administration face a challenge of Relative lack of capacity and oversight. The material and human resources available to local government institutions are often limited and prevent effective self-regulation. Compared to national institutions, many local government agencies lack capacity and staff are often inadequately paid, creating an environment that may incentivise petty corruption as a means for officials to supplement their income. In Afghanistan, local institutions are hampered by a lack of material resources and knowledgeable staff, a situation which has reportedly heightened security concerns in some parts of the country. The scope for corruption at the local level can be compounded by a relative absence of effective checks and balances, with local government activities normally subject to less monitoring from audit agencies and the media. Developing countries, in particular, often do not have a robust local media that can report on government activity or the funds being transferred from central to local government bodies (see side bar).
Both public policy and public administration aim at Strengthening local capacity; Building integrity in local government systems may require institutional reform of local bodies. Initiatives can include pursuing civil service reform, strengthening the integrity of the judiciary; improving financial controls; or revising local procurement procedures.31 In addition, the creation of local anti-corruption agencies (ACAs) can play an important role in investigating and publicising allegations of corruption. Although less common than their national counterparts, there is some limited evidence of their success, such as the accomplishments of local ACAs in the US (Florida) and Australia (New South Wales), to uncover corruption in local government institutions.
Strengthening local capacity also involves empowering civil society organisations (CSOs) to make local government more accountable for its actions and policies. TI-Romania has organised ‘training of trainers’ workshops for representatives of NGOs working at the grassroots level. Training sessions have focused on such topics as building public integrity and establishing mechanisms to protect local whistleblowers. By training these representatives as trainers, the aim has been to promote a multiplier effect of knowledge on these issues among civil society and to build a new constituency interested in combating local corruption.
In Peru, the national chapter has launched a national anti-corruption school, which aims to train key social actors from every region in anti-corruption advocacy techniques and provide technical assistance to them for the implementation of local anti-corruption initiatives. More informally in Liberia, the local TI contact group has opted to set up ‘Integrity Clubs’ to publicise corruption issues with community members and solidify buy-in from local leaders
Both public policy and administration Results in Action, Decision-making can result in action, in changes in the decision-making itself, or both or neither. The policies of most socially significant decision-making, such as most public policy making are intended to result in action. Also policies directed at the policy making apparatus itself such as efficiency drives in government are action oriented.
These policies are concerned with the general welfare and development of the society, the programmes like provision of education and employment opportunities, economic stabilisation, law and order enforcement, anti-pollution legislation etc. are the result of substantive policy formulation. These policies have vast areas of operation affecting the general welfare and development of the society as a whole. These do not relate to any particular or privileged segments of the society. Such policies have to be formulated keeping in view the prime character of the constitution socio-economic problems and the level of moral claims of the society.
Good public administration is an essential prerequisite for governments and institutions to achieve competitiveness and growth and fully functioning national public policy is also a prerequisite for effective democratic system. When a country has a strong public policy and administration it is able to achieve better economic performance and growth , this can be observed in the instances of some economies like in Botswana which has a strong and effective model public policy . In Botswana, the political leadership has been committed to the conception that proficient management of the economy depends on the quality of the public service. To achieve their development objectives, the political leadership made efficiency and effectiveness their major overriding goal. They set out to build a strong nucleus of top and middle level managers. Botswana’s system of public management has been commended as one of the most successful in Africa. Since its independence in 1966, the government of Botswana adopted various reforms in the form of decentralization, computerization of personnel management systems and human resource development under the ambit of New Public Management (NPM) (Dzimbiri, 2008). This led several studies to conclude that although Botswana is still a developing country, its bureaucracy stands out in several aspects (Hope, 2002; Dzimbiri, 2008; Marobela and Boy, 2012). Botswana has been commented for establishing a sound democratic system, separation of powers clearly specifying lines of authority, accountable bureaucracy and a strong foundation for prudence in the management of public finance.
It is therefore evident that effectiveness in public administration and executing the public policy well is essential in enabling a country achieve growth and development.
Weak public policy and public administration leads to corruption in the government institutions, for Uganda weak public policy and administration has led to corruption this was stated by Transparency International’s 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Uganda 130th out of 176 countries and territories, with a score of 29 out of 100, indicating a perception of widespread and endemic corruption. The country ranks 30 out of 48 countries in the Sub-Saharan Africa region.
Uganda has also consistently scored poorly in the World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI). In 2011, it scored 19.9 on control of corruption, on a scale from 0 to 100 and it has shown no improvements across the years. Uganda scores relatively better, but still below the 50th percentile, on the rule of law, government effectiveness, regulatory quality and voice and accountability indicators.
The police are seen as the most corrupt in Africa at 47%. The police are followed by business executives, who are seen as the second most corrupt group (42% say most or all business executives are corrupt).Government officials and tax officials rank as the third and fourth most corrupt groups(38% and 37% respectively). Peter Wandera, the Executive Director of Transparency International Uganda, told The Independent on Dec.04 that the rate of corruption in institutions like police, lands, courts, health and private companies in Uganda is way above the average in Africa. He said corruption had gone down only in the Uganda Revenue Authority. Corruption in Uganda has been getting worse, according to the global Corruption Perception Index (CPI). Uganda was ranked 127th in 2010, 143 in 2011, 130 in 2012, 140 in 2013, and 142 in 2014. In terms of CPI, the higher the corruption, the higher is the ranking. It should be noted that the CPI does not measure actual incidents of corruption but rather the extent to which citizens think corruption takes place. Uganda’s bad perception figures could be as a result of the many stories of theft in public offices.
As an aid dependent country, Uganda needs a sound public financial management system, to ensure donors’ funds are spent wisely and leakages are avoided. In spite of reforms, there is still room to improve the level of transparency and accountability of the country’s public financial management system still.
Therefore the government has to implement effective public policy and administer them well to ensure that there is elimination of corruption.
Furthermore the weak public policy and administration in Uganda has also sparked more frauds in government institutions like Uganda revenues Authority this was reported by (daily monitor Monday 23 may 2011), which stated that in Uganda as a country before the period of 2000, the level of fraud was not pronounced like it is happening now where there are many cases of fraud running on the media such as news papers, radios, televisions and magazines.
High profile cases of corruption over time include the CHOGM saga in 2007 which became public in 2011 when high profile people including then-Vice President Gilbert Bukenya were implicated for mismanaging billions of shillings meant for the CHOGM summit, the Global Fund scandal in 2008 when money meant for malaria and tuberculosis drugs ended up in the pockets of a few, the NSSF Temangalo land purchase put then Security Minister Amama Mbabazi on spot, the Pension scandal of 2012 where Shs169 billion meant for pension was swindled, and the Kazinda scandal in Prime Minister’s Office in which billions of shillings was swindled in a syndicate involving several ministries. John Saturday, the Director Capacity Building at Public procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Authority (PPDA) says in 2014 up to 118 procurement audits were conducted in 118 entities and found that contracts worth Shs3.1 billion were corruptibly awarded to pre-determined bidders. In other cases of corruption, Shs11.4 billion was advanced to providers without the required Advance Payment Guarantee of Security. John Saturday said this put the government resources at risk in case the provider defaulted, that money would be lost because there will be no back up to recover the resources. He said Shs74.8 million was lost in contract awards in 2014/2015 financial year (Independent Dec, 2015).
Both public policy and administration require transparency in executing, without proper transparency and consideration of the citizens a public policy adopted by the government can be a failure. Policy makers should use a range of tools to help them think through and understand the need for, and consequences of, proposed policy interventions and assist the Government in weighing up relevant evidence on the likely impacts of such interventions and consult with those affected. A system and structure that explicitly values and makes best use of available evidence is key to developing policies and legislation. A continuous process should be in place that emphasizes the importance of effectively implementing policy and legislation and ensures the ability to monitor and evaluate impacts and whether the objectives are being achieved this will enhance transparency in the system.
Both public policy and administration requires assessing the likely costs and benefits and associated risks to the public, private or civil society organizations, the environment and society at large over the long-term. Evidence that the policy is necessary and that it will solve the issues it was created to address should exist from the outset.
It is commonly accepted that the organization of a public administration has a deep impact on its overall performance and, hence, on its democratic legitimacy in relation to citizens’ expectations.
The search for efficiency, the need for further specialization, the constitutional/legal context and administrative tradition, the system of control in place and the political conjuncture all influence the organizational model adopted by each country. As a result, no single pattern exists regarding how public administration is structured and operates in different countries.
Both public policy and administration are designed to ensure efficiency in service delivery by the government to the people, according to (Mampe, 2012), Service delivery is a contemporary issue for most governments and researchers alike. Most scholars are in agreement that public service delivery is critical to ensuring the national welfare and stimulation of economic development. This is because often governments undertake a number of activities to provide citizens with services and at the same time guarantee that these services are provided in accordance with the service delivery requirements within the rule of law.
Government parastatal bodies in Uganda are realizing that efficient service delivery improves value for money, accordingly, parastatal bodies must find ways of improving efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery.In public administration, service delivery management is concerned with meeting fully the deliverables that were agreed upon in the contract.
Globalization has affected public policy and public administration in most of the countries in Africa including Uganda, the movement toward greater interaction, integration, and interdependence among people and organizations across national borders is increasing transactions among countries in trade and investment and in the international flows of capital, people, technology, and information. It is evident in the growing levels of international political interaction and widespread social and cultural interchange that have occurred over the past quarter of a century. Globalization has brought both benefits and challenges to countries around the world. Globalization offers new economic opportunities but also imposes new political, social, technological, and institutional complexities, especially on poorer countries, that governments must address in order to stimulate more equitable economic and social development. In order to benefit from more open and widespread economic interaction, governments must support an economic system that promotes and facilitates the ability of business enterprises to compete effectively in international markets and of people at all economic levels to earn a decent livelihood.
But rapid globalization over the past two decades assured that governments could no longer carry on as usual, at least in terms of the functions and roles many of them played in the 1960s and 1970s. As the OECD has pointed out, by the 1980s governments were widely “criticized for their lack of capacity to respond quickly and effectively to strategic issues and for failing to leverage off opportunities in emerging markets offered by, among others, new technologies. Conflicts inherent in combining multiple roles (for instance, policymaker, regulator, monitor, competing service provider, funder), often with conflicting objectives, became obvious.”10 Globalization and technological advances have been and will continue changing the “rules of the game” for government. The roles of the government as a central planner and controller of the national economy, as the primary provider of goods and services, and as the engine of economic growth, have largely been discredited as functioning effectively in countries seeking to promote national competitiveness. Indeed, even the ability of states to exercise sovereign control over internal economic activities and transactions across their borders is changing in the face of relentless globalization.
Globalization has therefore had an effect into the way the government desighns its public policies and the way they are administered.
The need to improve governance and public administration and to enhance the State’s capacity to carry out new functions and roles is now widely recognized. The United Nations Millennium Declaration calls for respect for human rights and the promotion of democracy and good governance (including efficient and effective public administration). Good governance is a necessary condition for the achievement of each of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and promoting global partnership for development. Governments in developing countries and their international development partners have significantly increased their financial support to strengthen governance and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of public administration.
Both public policy and public administration face a challenges with bureaucracy , which has hindered efficiency in public administration Uganda however In a dynamic and turbulent environment where social, economic and political problems mount and the demands of society increase faster than the capacity of available resources to provide for, government, especially the administrative organization for carrying out policies and implement projects and programs, is called upon to adopt appropriate mechanisms to cope with this concerns.
Conclusion
Public policy is what the government actually decides or chooses to do. It is the relationship of the government units to the specific field of political environment in a given administrative system. It can take a variety of forms like law, ordinances, court decisions, executive orders, decisions.
Public administration is positive in the sense that it depicts the concern of the government ‘and involves its action to a particular problem on which the policy is made. It has the sanction of law and authority behind it. Negatively, it involves decisions by the governmental officials regarding not taking any action on a particular issue.
Policy formulation is the first stage in public policy process. Through this process the dernands of the system are converted into policies. But before this it has to be clearly established as to which demands require to be converted into policies. At the policy interpretation stage, the formulated public policy is further clarified and interpreted in order to make it fully understandable. ‘I’he next stage in public policy process is policy education. The government through various channels of mass-media attempts to make the masses aware of the formulate J policies, After this comes the stage of policy implementation, when the policies are systematically executed by the different administrative agencies at the central.
However in relation to service delivery Corruption in Uganda has hampered the government’s attempts to deliver quality service to the citizens of the country , this is because the country’s political elite swindle the government resources that could have otherwise have been used for national development hampering with the government ability to deliver its commitment and ensure that it meets the needs of the citizens, however corruption does not fail the government efforts alone other factors like poverty in Uganda , were most parts of the country is poor which hampers the government’s efforts to deliver services to the people due to too much constrained expenditure of the government and lastly Colonialism in Uganda also has an influence in the way the government designs its public policies and the way they are administered to the benefit of the citizens of a given country.
REFERENCES
Weber, 2015, pp. 73–127 in Weber’s Rationalism and Modern Society, edited and translated by Tony Waters and Dagmar Waters, New York: Palgrave MacMillan
