Abstract:
Citizen participation is acknowledged in the governance and development
discourse, as a mechanism for building capacity in the rural poor in the
quest for poverty reduction and good governance. This article synthesizes
recent studies on Uganda’s decentralised system of local governance and examines
the extent to which participation in local programmes has enhanced the process
of rural development. It is argued that, while some participatory framework
exists as a result of devolving some powers and functions to local government
units, the structures and processes remain feeble and do not support a genuinely
participatory system. This is mainly due to the excessive central government
whims and the local elite capture. While the central and donor-conceived plans
may still be necessary for the rural poor, such strategies should be integrated into
the rural schemes to enable freedom of choice, action and decision in order to
attain strong local ownership and empowerment. This calls for political will from
the central government leaders and the need to strengthen capacity for the local
forces and social groups to infiltrate the hierarchies of officialdom associated with
the local bureaucracies.
