Uganda Working Brief Series
Insights from the District Development Project: Table of Contents
Mentoring of Lower Level Local Governments by District Local Governments 1
Martin Onyach-Olaa
Abstract
Introduction
Mentoring
Roles for Local Governments in the Uganda Context
Areas
of Mentoring Lower LGs
Current
Practices and Suggestions for Improvement
Urgent
Areas for Mentoring
Conclusion
and Way Forward
References
- Functions
of a Lower LG Executive Committee
Legislative Powers of LGs
Terms and Conditions of Service of LG Staff
LGs Budgetary Powers and Procedures
Financial and Accounting Regulations
Revenue Mobilisation
Appropriation of Funds
Sharing of Revenue
LGs Accounts and Audits
Tendering/Contracting or Procurement of Goods, Services and Works
Local Purchase Order (LPO)
LGs Emoluments and Allowances
Performances of LG Councillors
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The Local Government Act, 1997 refers to no less than twenty ways in which District local governments are responsible for mentoring the activities of lower level local governments. Mentoring is a key, crosscutting issue arising from DDP implementation experience to date, hence it is an area that requires more thought and energy. This Brief provides the Ugandan legal context for local government mentoring and offers suggestions that can be immediately applied. |
This brief is divided into two parts: Part One looks at Local Governments (LGs) and identifies their mentoring responsibilities to lower Local Governments and Councils within the context of the Local Governments Act, 1997. Part Two gives a quick review of the current practices by Local Governments and proposes areas where higher Local Governments could begin mentoring lower level Local Governments. (return)
Mentoring
Roles for Local Governments in the Uganda Context
The mentoring role for Local Governments is enshrined in the Local Government Act, 1997. Section Four of the LG Act states that “the system of LG shall be the District as a unit under which there shall be lower LGs and Administrative Units.” The LG [2] Council is the highest political authority within the area of jurisdiction of LGs and holds both legislative and executive powers (Section 10 LGs Act, 1997). Further to this, Section 35 of the LG Act states that “A Local Government Council may offer guidance to lower Councils within its areas of jurisdiction.”
In implementing this task, the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) has a very important role to play. The CAO is the head of Public Service in the District, the head of administration of the District Council, and the Accounting officer of the District (Section 65 (1), LGs Act 1997). As such, the CAO is expected to “give guidance to Local Government Councils and their departments in the application of the relevant laws and policies” (Section 65: 2(b), LGs Act 1997) and “supervise, monitor and co-ordinate the activities of District and lower Council’s employees and departments; and ensure accountability and transparency in the management and delivery of Council’s services” (Section 65: 2(c), LGs Act 1997). These provisions give the District Local Governments responsibilities to mentor lower level local governments. These functions are considered so important that the law does not allow the office to be vacant for more than three months (Section 65 (4), LGs Act 1997). (return)
The authors of the LG Act recognised that decentralisation would not work unless clear relationships are built amongst a variety of stakeholders both at the District level and beyond. Therefore, the Act refers to twenty ways in which District Local Governments are responsible to mentor the activities of lower level local governments. Some of the key areas are:
(a) Functions of a Lower LG Executive Committee
The Executive Council is responsible for supervising the implementation of policies and decisions made by its council and shall, inter alia, monitor the administration in its area and report to the District Council. It is also expected to monitor and supervise projects and other activities undertaken by the Government, Local Governments, and NGOs in their area (Section 27 (i) & (j), LGs Act 1997). (return)
LGs have powers to make laws. However, the laws made by LGs (Ordinances for Districts and bye-laws for lower level LGs) should not be inconsistent with the Constitution or any other laws made by the Parliament (Sections 39 and 40, LGs Act 1997). It is therefore the responsibility of District LGs to guide lower level LGs about the necessary legal provisions as provided by the Centre. (return)
(c) Terms and Conditions of Service of LG Staff
The law requires that the terms and conditions of service of Local Government staff should conform with those prescribed by the Public Service Commission for the public service in general (Section 62(1), LGs Act 1997). The Standing Orders, training and qualifications of LG staff shall be determined by the Council but shall conform to those prescribed by the Government (Section 62(3) LGs Act 1997). It is the responsibility of the District LGs to ensure that the person at the lower LGs conforms to these provisions. (return)
(d) LGs Budgetary Powers and Procedures
LGs have been given the right and obligation to formulate, approve and execute their budgets and plans provided the budgets are balanced (Section 78(1), LGs Act 1997). They are required to give preference to National Priority Program Areas (PPAs) in their budget outlays (Section 78(2), LGs Act 1997). The budget for the ensuing Financial Year should take into account the approved three-year development plan (Section 78(5), LGs Act 1997), but are lower level LGs doing this? If not, then it is incumbent on the District LGs to mentor them to implement this provision. (return)
(e) Financial and Accounting Regulations
Section 79 (2) of the Act provides for the Minister to make Financial and Accounting Regulations prescribing financial and accountability measures for compliance by all LGs. This provision gave birth to The Local Governments Financial & Accounting Regulations, 1998. The Regulations detail what LGs need to do to ensure efficient financial management. Are lower LGs following the provision of the Regulations? If not, then District LGs should mentor the lower LGs to be able to comply with the provisions in the Regulations. (return)
LGs have the power to levy taxes as one of the ways for mobilising revenue (Section 81(1)). In doing so, each LG is required to draw up a comprehensive list of all its internal revenue sources and maintain data on total potential collectable revenue. Several crucial questions need to be raised. How many of the lower LGs in Districts are doing this? How accurate is the information? What have District LGs been doing about this issue? (return)
The law stipulates that no funds shall be appropriated out of the funds of the Council unless approved in a budget by Council (Section 83(1), LGs Act 1997). The District Internal Audit department is supposed to audit books of accounts for Sub-counties and present quarterly reports to the Sub-county and District Councils (Section 192 LGs FAR, 1998). Such a report highlights areas of weakness in the Sub-county accounts. It is the responsibility of District LGs to mentor lower level LGs to correct and overcome any such weaknesses. (return)
This is captured under Section 86 of the LG Act dealing with the percentage of revenue to be retained or distributed to lower Councils. The Municipal Division is to retain 50% and pass 50% to the Municipal Council (Section 86(1)). The Sub-County is to retain 65% and pass 35% to the District (Section 86 (2), LGs Act 1997). These are the principles applied in the sharing of funds under the DDP and LGDP [3] between District and Sub-counties and Municipalities and Divisions respectively. (return)
Every LG Council and Administrative Unit is required to keep proper books of accounts and other records. They must balance their accounts for that year and produce statements of final accounts within four months from the end of each financial year (Section 87). This means that all LGs should have their statements of final accounts ready not later than October of each year.
The accounts of every LG Council and Administrative Unit should be audited by the Auditor-General (AG) or an auditor appointed by him/her. The AG may carry out any surprise audit, investigations or other audit considered necessary (Section 88 (1) & (2), LGs Act 1997). In addition, the District, City, Municipality and Town Council should have an Internal Audit Department (Section 91 (1)). The Internal Audit Department is required to prepare quarterly audit reports and submit them to the Council with a copy to the LG Public Accounts Committee (PAC) (Section 91(2), LGs Act 1997). (return)
(j) Tendering/Contracting or Procurement of Goods, Services and Works
The LG Act provides for a District Tender Board (DTB) in each District that offers its services to the District Councils, Sub-County Council and DTB acts only upon a request by the Local Council seeking the procurement of goods, services or works (Section 92: 7(b), LGs Act 1997). Section 95 (1) of the Act makes a provision for an Urban Tender Board for each Urban Council; however, an Urban Council may opt to use the services of the District Tender Board (Section 95(4), LGs Act 1997).
Each financial year, the Minister determines the tender board threshold for Chief Executive Awards; however, all contracts awarded under such limits should be brought to the attention of the Local Government Tender Board (LGTB) at its next meeting for ratification (Section 75 (2) & (3) LG FAR, 1998). The limit for FY 1998/99 has been set by the Hon. Minister at UShs 1,000,000/- for works and UShs 500,000/- for services.
The secretary of the LGTB is required to maintain a list of approved suppliers and contractors including transporters. The list shall be reviewed annually at the beginning of each financial year. Copies of the list including the names, addresses and any other information of the Directors to be submitted to the Executive Committee, the Chief Internal Auditor, Auditor General, all heads of departments and IGG (Section 77 (1) & (5), LGs Act 1997). Councillors, members of the Board, and employees of the Councils are prohibited from being suppliers or contractors of the Council either directly or indirectly (Section 79 (4) LG FAR, 1998).
Technical evaluation of bids is the responsibility of a Technical Evaluation Committee composed of technical officers and co-opted persons by the Chief Executive with the approval of the Executive Committee. The committee submits its evaluation to the Board for guidance, but the Board makes independent decisions based on their reasonable judgement, provided it does not favour any particular bidder (section 80 (1) & (2) LG FAR, 1998).
The Chief Finance Officer (CFO) keeps details of all contracts in a Contract Register and closely compares the actual payments against the approved sum. Overspending must be reported to the LGTB and must be accompanied by an explanation from the head of the department concerned (Section 83(1) LG FAR, 1998).
Where there is
enough evidence that LGTB or a technical evaluation committee or both
did not follow proper procedures and has caused a loss to a Council,
necessary measures shall be taken against the Board or Committee members
including the recovery of losses suffered by the Council (Section 86
(2) LGs FAR 1998). (return)
(k) Local Purchase Order (LPO)
All goods and services procured locally must be ordered by means of a LPO prepared in triplicate and signed by the head or deputy head of department. The original and duplicate are to be sent to the supplier and triplicate retained in the book (Section 81 (1) LG FAR 1998). All LPOs are countersigned by the Chief Executive and the CFO and entered in the Vote Book (Section 81 (2), (3) LG FAR 1998). Payments are made by the CFO against the supplier presenting, inter alia, the original of LPO as an attachment against his/her claim for payment of goods or services delivered (Section 82 (5) LG FAR 1998). (return)
(l) LGs Emoluments and Allowances
The regulations guiding LGs on emoluments and allowances is found in the first schedule of the LG Act, 1997. The most important is Regulation Four which states that “the expenditure of a LG Council in a financial year on emoluments and allowances of Chairperson, Councillors, members of the District Service Commission, the DTB, the LG Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and other District Council Committees, shall not exceed 15% of the total local revenue collected by that LG Council in the previous financial year.” This provision means emoluments and allowances of LGs should reflect the level of effort made by the LG in revenue mobilisation. (return)
(m) Performances of LG Councillors
The third schedule of the LG Act provides the necessary regulations for LG Council businesses. Part III Section 9(1) of the Act stipulates that a LG Council should meet at least once in two months to discharge its functions. Written notices and agenda for meetings are to be circulated seven days before meetings and the records of every meeting of a LG Council to be kept in English (Schedule III 10(1); 31(1) LGs Act, 1997). LG Council may establish and regulate working committees, as it deems necessary, but the number of members on each committee including the Chairperson should not be more than nine (Schedule III Section 24, LGs Act 1997). return
Current
Practices and Suggestions for Improvement
- Lower Level
LGs are autonomous.
- Districts
do not have the resources to mentor lower level LGs.
- Lower level
LGs do not appreciate advice from District officials.
- Lower level
LGs should meet fully the cost of Technical Assistance from Districts.
- Districts do not have the personnel capacity to do the mentoring.
- The irony is that cases have been found where a district official is able to supervise a District investment located in a Sub-county but does not have time to supervise a Sub-county investment only meters away. Hence, the problem seems to be more of attitude and perception than the reasons usually advanced to justify the lack of District mentoring of lower level LGs. return
Field visits have indicated that currently Districts do not mentor lower level LGs. Some of the reasons they have given are:
Whereas the mandated 20 areas identified in the first part of this Brief provide ample places to start mentoring of lower level LGs by the Districts, the most urgent areas seems to be in the following fields:
Tendering and Contracting
Financial Management
Tendering and Contracting
Integrated Planning
Monitoring and Evaluation
Communication
- Who should
prepare the bid documents? Why are detailed specifications necessary
while preparing such a document?
- Who should
generate a memo from the Sub-County to the secretary of the LGTB
requesting for services of the Board?
- Why should
the LGTB determine the mode of tendering, time frame and Terms of
Reference (TORs) for bidders depending on the scope, complexity
and urgency of the work?
- Who is responsible
for inviting tenderers and how is it done?
- Who is responsible
for evaluating bids and what considerations are usually taken on
board while evaluating bids?
- Who considers
and awards contracts?
- Who negotiates
contracts? Why are contracts negotiated?
- Who are the
signatories to a contract document and why?
- Why should
there be a period for contract mobilisation?
- What are the
roles of the client (LGs), contractor and manager (supervisor) during
contract implementation? Why is certification of completed works
important?
- Why should
completed contracts or works be commissioned and handed over to
the client?
- Experiences have shown that lower level LGs plans contain projects that are not properly designed with detailed specifications and costing. This makes technical supervision difficult, if not impossible. Also, it points to an important missing link in project preparation, that is, the lack of adequate appraisal of proposed projects. (return)
Sub-county officials are not yet well acquainted with procedures and steps for tendering and contracting. There seems to be mistrust between the lower level LGs and the LGTB. Efforts could be made to improve this situation and clearly delineate the roles of each of the players. Within the contracting cycle, the sub-counties could be assisted to answer the following questions.
The above are some of the areas where Districts need to mentor lower level LGs in using the LGTB and help them clarify their roles within the process. (return)
The most common problems experienced by lower level LGs is the lack of appreciation of budgeting and financial record keeping. Consequently, Districts need to assist lower level LGs to understand the importance of Output-oriented Budgeting and to understand what types of supporting documents are required before any payment is effected. For example, they need to know who should authorise payments and who should effect them. They should also be assisted to appreciate the importance of the various books of accounts they are required to keep. (return)
Most plans of lower level LGs are a compilation of sectoral projects. The plans do not have goals and objectives. In most cases, they do not address the problems being faced by the communities. There is an urgent need for Districts to assist lower level LGs to develop plans that address their problems. This calls for problem analysis as the starting point in the preparation of plans. Projects should address the real problems at hand, but there seems to be limited problem-solving skills within the LG. Therefore, the intervention priorities are sometimes the wrong ones.
District plans should be integrated, and they should acknowledge the proposed interventions at the lower levels in order to guide it in effectively allocating its resources. Higher LG plans should include those plans identified at a lower level but that are too complex, too expensive or have recurrent cost implications at higher levels. They should capture the "below the budget line" [4] of the lower level LG. This will assist the lower LG by giving it the purchasing power of the District LG as a whole.
d) Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)
There is lack of M&E by lower level LGs of its activities. They look at M&E as a mechanism for catching “wrong doers” or “failures.” This perception needs to change so that lower level LGs look at M&E as a positive tool for management. It will assist them to learn what works and what does not work, so that the second time around they do not make the same mistakes. M&E can be used also as a tool for informing LGs on areas that require the attention of the centre or higher level LGs, e.g., promoting policy reforms or assistance. District LGs need to assist lower level LGs in M&E. (return)
e)
Communication
Field visits have shown that there are wide information gaps between
the various stakeholders in the implementation of the DDP. This points
to lack of communication at all levels. Districts, together with lower
level LGs, need to work out appropriate strategies for improving communication
flow between LGs and to their intended beneficiaries. (return)
Conclusion and Way Forward
The District LGs can not abdicate their statutory responsibility of mentoring lower level LGs. In the DDP Project Document, this is one of the performance measures against which District LGs will be assessed. The CAO, because of the nature of his/her office, needs to take a lead in mentoring and to make the members of the District Technical Planning Committee (DTPC) prepare appropriate, joint mentoring plans for lower level LGs. With the resources available in the Districts, this should not be a very difficult task. Field trips could be jointly organised to maximise the use of facilities such as transport. (return)
Government of
Uganda. Local Governments Act, 1997.
Government of Uganda. Local Governments Financial and Accounting Regulations,
1998. (return)
Endnotes
(1) This Working Brief is extracted from a presentation made to the Third National Forum at the Hotel Africana, December 1998. (return)
(2) Within the Act, LGs are defined to include “the District Council; the Sub-County Councils; the City Council; the City Division Councils; the Municipal Council; the Municipal Division Councils and the Town Council.” (return)
(3) LGDP - Local Government Development Programme is one of the programmes being executed by the PMU. The programme concept and implementation arrangements are the same as those for the DDP. (return)
(4) "Below the Budget Line" refers to investments prioritised by the sub-counties and have no cost implications at the District level but are reflected in the District Development Plan. (return)
