Political-administrative interactions towards effective implementation of the construction of health and education infrastructure in Morogoro district council Tanzania

Abstract

Political-administrative interactions in local governments have gained wide attention among most development practitioners and scholars of public administration. Politicaladministrative relations focus on the interaction and reciprocal relations between the elected and appointed officials in performing local governments’ functions. Through decentralization by devolution “D by D”, local governments have been mandated to provide social services within their jurisdictions such as education, health, and clean and safe water, among others. Implementation of construction of health and infrastructures projects is one of the strategy used by local governments to ensure effective provision of health and education services. Despite the efforts made by the government to construct health and education infrastructures quality and adequacy of physical infrastructures of health and education remain a challenge. The overall objective of this study was to assess the contribution of political-administrative interactions to implementation of construction of health and education infrastructure projects (classrooms, teachers’ houses, latrines, laboratories, dispensaries and health centres) in Morogoro District Council, Morogoro Region in Tanzania. The study specifically: (i) assessed the levels of interaction between elected and appointed officials (ii) examined attitudes between elected and appointed officials in the projects; (iii) analysed adherence to the principles of governance between elected and appointed officials in projects implementation, and (iv) examined the contribution of the interaction between elected and appointed officials in construction of health and education projects in Morogoro District. The study adopted a case study research design, and involved a total of 64 respondents that included elected and appointed officials who were randomly selected. Qualitative data were collected through Focus Group Discussions (FGD), Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and observation techniques while quantitative data were collected using a questionnaire survey. Qualitative data were analysed through content analysis and categorised based on the research objectives. Quantitative data were analysed using IBM Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) Software by computing descriptive statistics employing frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations. An interaction index was also computed. The results from the interaction index revealed that there was moderate interaction (65.6%) between the elected and appointed officials in implementation of public development projects in Morogoro District Council. About one-fifth (20.3%) of the respondents had low interactions while 14.1% had high interaction. On attitude, the results indicated that 56.2% of respondents had negative attitude while 12.6% had indifferent attitude and 31.2% had positive attitude towards their relationship in implementation of the projects. It was, further, found that there was poor transparency at 68.8% and accountability (65.2%) between the elected and appointed officials in implementation of projects, particularly on financial matters. The findings also showed that the elected officials were not adhering to the rule of law compared to the appointed officials; instead they were influenced by their political interests and partisan politics and ignorance on the laws, policies and regulations. The findings indicated that good relationship between elected and appointed officials facilitated mobilization of project resources, increased public participation, improved trust, minimised conflict of interest and ensured transparency and accountability in the projects. However, the study revealed various challenges that affected their relationship in the projects. The challenges included difference in the levels of education, distrust and conflicting interests, partisan and political interference, and poor transparency and accountability. With regard to the results of objectives one and two, it is concluded that inadequate monitoring of relationships between elected and appointed officials in implementation of development projects by local government leads to moderate interaction and increases misunderstandings. From the results that meet objective three, it is concluded that lack of transparency, accountability and adherence to the rule of law among elected and appointed officials jeopardizes compliance with governance principles in implementation of the projects. In regard to the results on contribution to projects, it is concluded that positive relationships between elected and appointed officials contributes much to effective implementation of the said projects in the study area. Based on the conclusion drawn on the interaction between elected and appointed officials, it is recommended that local government should regularly conduct trainings on policies, regulations, and demarcation and monitoring of officials’ interaction in implementation of development projects. In view of the conclusion drawn from objective three, it is recommended that Morogoro District Council should monitor adherence to governance practices among both elected and appointed officials and provide trainings on policies, rule of law, and conducts that govern their relations. It is also recommended that local governments should encourage collaborations and partnerships between elected and appointed officials as advocated by complementary model of political-administrative relations. Moreover, it is recommended that local governments, through their own sources, should establish monthly allowances to village/hamlet chairpersons and other elected officials. This will improve morale and accountability of the elected officials to effectively implement development projects