Reg No: 20/DPAM/KLA/WKD/024

UGANDA MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE

POSTGRADUATE DIPLOMA IN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

AND MANAGEMENT (DPAM) WEEKEND

MODULE: FUNDAMENTALS OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND

MANAGEMENT

NAME: NABULYA DAMALIE VIVIAN

STUDENTS NO: 2001401003

REGISTRATION NO: 20/DPAM/KLA/WKD/024

SUBMISSION DATE: 15th MAY 2021

Course work Question.

Critically examine the role and challenges of Public Administration and Management in

facilitating the development of a country such as Uganda.

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Public administration is a part of Government that has for long been around from the time of

the monarchies, therefore the role of public administration cannot be ignored while

understanding the public sector.

Public administration is a process by which government supplies goods and services, make

and enforce regulations, manage resources and resolve conflicts in an efficient and equitable

manner while remaining accountable to the public for both means and outcomes.

Krysten Godfrey Maddocks (2021) notes that Public administrators share an important role in

ensuring that laws and regulations, civil rights, municipal budgets and health and safety codes

are enforced to protect the community they serve.

John Rohr (a leading scholar of the US Constitution and its relation to public administration

and civil servants) defined the role of public administration as governing the society.

Different authors have also argued that a government can function without a legislature, even

without a judiciary but never without administration. This would mean that the government

would become dysfunctional and eventually the government would fail to provide services

for the society. In the different types of government be it federal or a unitary and a

monarchical government, the role of public administration is unique and important.

It should be noted that in Uganda, the relation between public administration and citizens has

changed notably within the last 10 – 20 years. A citizen, who was originally mostly given

orders and prohibitions, is becoming a partner, a user, a client. The administration thus gives

up its privileged position, public administration is presented increasingly as a provider of

services, and administration authorities are seeking ways of better and more open cooperation

with citizens. Therefore public administration provides numerous services to the public and

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serves their interests in many ways. As explained by Felix A Negro, the real core of

administration is the basic service which is performed for the public.

Therefore the roles of public administration and management in the performance of

government include the following;

The role of the public administration is “to uphold the Constitution of the Republic of

Uganda” by providing leadership in the initiation, formulation, coordination and monitoring

of public policies and programs such that government programmes run smoothly to deliver

services to the people. Furthermore it is fundamental in supporting H.E. the President as

well as the Executive arm in the discharging of overall leadership and effective government

coordination,

Public administration is fully responsible for research, plan and also recommend policies and

programs that fall within budgets and follow administrative and government law that is in

place. The policy and programme's focus should be on action-oriented, and there should be

practical research on effective systems while following procedures in public administration.

Promote and manage regional, international relations and commercial diplomacy. Public

administration and management promote Uganda’s interests abroad based on strong

diplomatic ties such that there is creation of trade, investment and employment opportunities

vital for Uganda’s socio-economic transformation. Public Administration Sector

Development Plan (PA-SDP) I FY (2015/16 – 2019/20) states that, it is in line with the

strategic direction of Vision 2040 which seeks to review and strengthen the country’s foreign

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policy to enhance collaboration in accordance with existing and future agreements, standards

and protocols within the framework of East African Community, and other regional blocs.

It is the public administration that promotes and ensures the security and protection of life

and property of the members of the society by maintaining proper law and order. For example

the UPDF that is responsible for the security of the country and the police to maintain law

and order. Public administration sector mutually work with the defence and security sector

contribute to the security and territorial integrity of Uganda’s boundaries and security of

persons and property. In particular, Resident District Commissioners chair District Security

Committee meetings whose resolutions are shared with the Security sector thus providing

intelligence information to other Security actors.

Provides leadership in good governance by offering leadership in the mobilization of the

masses towards prosperity; as well as strengthening citizen participation by mobilizing

masses to participate in the democratic and development processes that is to say the electoral

processes where the public cast a vote for their leaders to represent them at different

leadership levels. Therefore citizens are able to participate in public governance and as well

as national service programmmes.

Coordinate with others to adopt and put into action new policies or programs. This facilitates

effective public policy formulation for improved service delivery in line with the fiscal and

investment priorities set as guidelines.

Collect and analyze qualitative and quantitative data such as public records, budget reports,

surveys and historical data to make adjustments and improvements, as needed. The data is

useful in the planning and development of the country.

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Communicate the effectiveness of policies and programs with other employees, constituents

and stakeholder groups to ensure transparency and accountability. This leads to gaining of

feedback to a particular policy or program.

Monitoring of government programmes: The public administration sector together with the

public sector management sector, monitor national programs for effective service delivery.

This is achieved through various coordination and planning meetings between the various

sectors with support of the political leadership to ensure that national objectives are realized.

Public administration is responsible for sustained economic growth, creating and

strengthening national capacities in fiscal policy analysis and economic management, and in

promoting a proper environment for capital flows for investment, private sector development,

transparency and accountability that would ensure economic growth.

Facilitating infrastructure development and protecting the environment, public administration

has the responsibility of establishing environmental standards for all infrastructure policies

such that citizens live in conducive environment.

Managing development programmes and maintaining a legal framework for development.

Public administration and management is responsible for managing and evaluating special

programs and/or projects that have been established.

Like any other discipline, public administration and management has challenges and these

include;

Corruption is a big challenge of public administration and management. Since its vital role is

provision of services, corruption is an enormous factor that compromises service delivery.

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According to the Public Administration Sector Development Plan (PA-SDP) I FY (2015/16 –

2019/20) indicates that in the past three years, the sector’s monitoring units identified over

343 corruption cases especially in the health and agriculture sector and were reported to the

responsible authorities. Therefore strengthening the monitoring capacity to identify and cause

action on corruption cases across government is important for improved service delivery.

to deliver services to the people.

The increasing population of Uganda. According to the Uganda Bureau statistical report

(2018) Uganda’s population has continued to grow over time. The population increased from

9.5 million in 1969 to 34.6 million in 2014. Between 2002 and 2014 the population increased

from 24.2 million to 34.6 million representing an average annual growth rate of 3.0 percent.

This means there is tremendous pressure on the available resources. Therefore delivery of

services is insufficient and now the role of providing for basic amenities like food and shelter

has fallen into the lap of the government.

There is a problem of bureaucracy. Uganda has a kind of monopoly of bureaucracies where

there is enjoyment of vast amount of autonomy where the goals intended to be achieved

often get lost along the way In this present day, Uganda is experiencing changing trends

every day, therefore the delivery services ought to be swift and flexible. However there is

plaguing bureaucracies in the government and this hinders the implementation of

developmental goals. The administrative staff are also significantly inclined to bureaucratic

behavior yet public administration is no longer mere legal implementation of laws as there is

a steadily increasing need for it to act in a creative way and taking the initiative to be contact-

friendly and "human" towards the public who require their services.

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Acute shortage of skilled manpower with technical and managerial competencies in public

administration and management. There is insufficient human resource development, limited

capacity and skills development for public policy formulation and implementation. This is as

result that staff move to the private sector which gives a better pay and has attractive

incentives hence leaves a big gap in the public sector leading to poor service delivery.

Non-transparency in the public sector. There are information barriers that prevent anyone to

get acquainted with their activities and any other information available to the administration.

Bategeka (2013) emphasizes that governments are obliged to provide information on their

activities in an adequate way but a statutory instrument which would regulate the discharge of

this duty has not been adopted yet. That the principle of "discreteness" of the administration

is still being applied instead of the democratic principle of "publicity" of the administration.

Therefore citizens are kept in the dark and are not able to support the government as required.

There is distrust of administration that comes as result of inconsistent prosecution of public

offences which should be detected and investigated by police and later prosecuted in the

courts of law. Knowing that the administration prosecutes every offence impartially has a

positive impact not only on the general legal knowledge of citizens but also on the evaluation

of public administration. The punishment given have preventive effects and should lead to an

increased level of legal certainty, to the compliance with generally binding rules of behavior.

The Public Administration Sector Development Plan (PA-SDP) I FY (2015/16 – 2019/20)

cites there is underutilisation of policy research from various institutions to inform decision

and policy making due to weak coordination and collaborative arrangements with policy

research institutions such as the Economic Policy and Research Centre (EPRC), Public and

Private Universities. Further recommends that strengthening policy research coordination

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arrangements will ensure that policy research results are effectively utilised for improved

policy effectiveness through evidence based policy formulation, review of all available policy

alternatives for informed decision and policy making.

There is also lack of an effective feedback mechanism on public service delivery. The main

goal of the public administration and management is to ensure that all nationals of Uganda

are well governed, empowered and satisfied with the level of service delivery. The Public

Administration Sector Development Plan (PA-SDP) I FY (2015/16 – 2019/20) indicates that

an effective citizen feedback mechanism will ensure both citizens and government feedback

is received and acted upon in a timely manner. However there has been limited due to lack of

effective and well established feedback mechanisms such as the Citizens Score card system

and Baraza’s among others, therefore the government doesn’t get to have any evaluation on

the delivery of services.

Poor financial management for development in public administration and management.

Funds are allocated to the public sector to facilitate service delivery. However the funds are

misused by public administrators for their own personal interests, the user departments get

limited or unequal share where some areas are given priority while others are ignored hence

unequitable service delivery.

Conflict and crisis conditions in the country affect public administration and management.

The presence of unstable political environment and insecurity affect service delivery. For

example the recent political riots in Kampala, the Katuna border conflict, the COVID 19

crisis that sterilized government programmes. Therefore the need of a healthy and peaceful

environment is necessary to ensure smooth delivery of services.

Conclusion

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In the modern state of Uganda, the role and scope of public administration is ever expanding

and all encompassing. The government is no longer responsible for maintaining law and

order only, this modern state expects government to provide much more which has seen the

role of public administration change dramatically, since those times.

Further still there is an increasing awareness amongst the citizens of a country regarding their

rights and the duties of the government. Thus, the role and functions of public administration

has also become quite dynamic in nature and is constantly evolving in response to the

changing needs and demands of the society. Technological intervention, incorporation of new

management principles, taking into accounts the needs and aspirations of the end customer

are some of the new trends in the areas of public administration.

REFERENCES

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3. Background to the Budget 2014/15 Fiscal Year, Ministry of Finance Planning and

Economic Development

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4. Bukenya B, Muhumuza W (2017), the politics of core public sector reform in

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11. Tansu D (2016) Public administration theory. In: Farazmand A (ed) Global

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