Driving up Standards: Civil Service Management and Decentralization: Case Study of Uganda
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Date
2012
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance
Abstract
There is a consensus that decentralization by devolution leads to improved service delivery, but
debate on the appropriate type of personnel arrangements for delivering decentralized services is far
from over. Put differently, the discourse on whether civil service management should be decentralized
or devolved still rages on. Little wonder that countries which started off with decentralized civil
service management models in the 1990s are currently centralizing some aspects of personnel
management while others are having centralized and decentralized personnel arrangements
operating side by side in sub-national governments. The paper argues that civil service management
should be decentralized whenever a country chooses the path of decentralization by devolution. Using
Uganda’s example, the paper highlights two major challenges of managing the civil service under
separate personnel arrangements: civil service appointments devoid of merit, and the perennial
failure to attract and retain qualified human resource. The paper presents proposals on how to ensure
meritocracy in appointments and how to bolster attraction and retention of human capital in local
governments.
Description
Keywords
Civil service, personnel systems, local governments
Citation
Nabaho, L. (2012). Driving up standards: civil service management and decentralization: Case study of Uganda. Commonwealth Journal of Local Governance, (11), 75-92.