Albert Science International Organization

ARTICLE DESCRIPTION: 

Abdoulie Fye, Dr. Moye Godwin Bongyu, Effectiveness of Decentralisation in the Gambia, ASIO Publication of Thesis & Dissertation (ASIO-PTD), 2016, Feb., 1(1): 01-152.

ARTICLE TYPE: Dissertation

dids/doi No.: 02.2016-61128823

dids link: http://dids.info/didslink/02.2016-33299774/ 

ABSTRACT:

The enactment of the different legal instruments and other efforts from 2002 to date, the effectiveness of decentralisation is assumed not guaranteed in The Gambia. This may be attributed to the inadequate redistribution of authority, responsibilities and financial resources for providing public services among the Local Government Councils and other Actors, and unavailability of adequate sources of revenues to the Local Councils. The main objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of decentralisation in The Gambia. Primary data was collected by administering questionnaires, interview guide and observation. The questionnaire used structured questions and both open-ended and close-ended questions were also utilised and the data analysed using Comparison, Statistical Package for the Social Sciences and Excel. However, secondary data was also collected to augment the studies. A non-probability sampling known as purposive sampling was used to elicit data from 38 respondents. One hundred (100) Per cent of the respondents said that it is true that the inadequate implementation of the laws and policies on decentralisation in The Gambia has affected the realisation of both administrative and fiscal decentralisation. Regarding political decentralisation in The Gambia, 76.4 per cent of respondents said political decentralisation is effective in The Gambia while about 23.7 per cent agrees that it is either weak or moderate. On the effectiveness of administrative decentralisation in The Gambia, 13.2 per cent of the respondents said administrative decentralisation in The Gambia is weak, 78.9 per cent indicates moderate while only 7.9 per cent said it is effective. As regards to the effectiveness of fiscal decentralisation in The Gambia only 2.6 per cent of the respondents said is very effective while 23.7 per cent and 73.7 per cent have the opinion that fiscal decentralisation is moderate and weak respectively. However, 86.84 per cent of the respondents agreed that the effectiveness of decentralisation in The Gambia is either weak or moderate. It is therefore important for the Central Government to totally devolve powers and allocate adequate sources of revenues to the Local Councils in order to ensure the provision of quality services and address the development needs of the citizens through an effective decentralisation system.

Books:

Agrawal, A, & Ribot, J. (2007), Analyzing Decentralization: A frame Work with Asian and East African Environmental Case. London: World resources Institute.

Conyers Diana (1990), Decentralization and development planning: A comparative perspective, In de Valk and Wekwete (eds.) K.H. (eds.) Decentralizing for Participatory Planning: Comparing the Experiences of Zimbabwe and Other Anglophone Countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. Aldershot, Avebury Press.

Crook Richard C. and James Manor (1998), Democracy and Decentralization in South-East Asia and West Africa: Participation, Accountability, and Performance, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Devas N. (2004), Urban governance, voice and poverty in the developing world, Earthscan: London.

Elbow Kent M. (1996), Legislative Reform, Tenure, and Natural Resource Management in Niger: The New Rural Code, The Land Tenure Center, Madison, Wisconsin, for CILSS and USAID, May

Francis Fukuyama (1992), The End of History and The Last Man, ISBN 0-02-910975-2, The Free Press, A Division Of Macmillan, Inc., New York, Maxwell Macmillan Canada Toronto, Maxwell Macmillan International, New York Oxford Singapore Sidney

Gerhard K.H. Tötemeyer (2000), Ethics and Decentralisation: Ethics and Good Governance in Namibia, Published by the Namibia Institute for Democracy in co-operation with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung

John R. Fisher (2010), System Theory and Functionalism Theory, In John T. Ishiyama and Marijke Breuning (ed.), 21^st Century Political Science, A Reference Handbook Volume 1, University of North Texas

Joseph Siegle and Patrick O'Mahony (2002), Assessing the merits of Decentralization as a conflict mitigation Strategy, Accessible online at http://www.dai.com/pdf/Decentralization_as_a_Conflict_Mitigation_Strategy.pdf

Lodico M Spaulding D. & Voegtle, K. (2006), Methods in educational research: From theory to practice, 2nd Edition, ISBN: 978-0-470-43680-6, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass

Moye Godwin Bongyu (2009), African Public Administration: The Effective Management of Personnel. The Edwin Mellen Press, New York

Robert Cameron (2003), Local Government in South Africa: Political Decentralisation, Party Centralisation, Corruption and Maladministration in Decentralisation and Democratic Governance Experiences from India, Bolivia and South Africa, Axel Hadenius (ed.), Distributed by: Almqvist & Wiksell International Elanders Gotab, Stockholm

Robert E. Slavin (2007), Educational research in an age of accountability, ISBN-10: 0205439829, Boston: Pearson Education,

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN?HABITAT), (2007), International guidelines on decentralisation and the strengthening of local authorities, published by UN?HABITAT HS/951/07E, ISBN 978-92-113-1952-1.

Watts Michael J. (1987), State Oil, and Agriculture in Nigeria, Institute of International Studies, Berkeley.

Wolfire Deanna Madvin, Jake Brunner and Nigel Sizer (1998), Forests and the Democratic Republic of Congo: Opportunity in a Time of Crisis, Forest Frontiers Initiative, WRI.

Yates Douglas A. (1996), The Rentier State in Africa: Oil Rent Dependency and Neocolonialism in the Republic of Gabon, Africa World Press, Trenton.

Young Iris Marion, (2000), Inclusion and Democracy, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Journals and Articles:

Agrawal Arun and Jesse C. Ribot (1999), “Accountability in decentralization: A framework with South Asian and African cases”, Journal of Developing Areas, Vol. 33, Summer, pp. 473–502.

Blair Harry (2000), “Participation and accountability at the periphery: Democratic local governance in six countries.” World Development, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 21–39.

Conyers Diana (2000), “Decentralisation: A conceptual analysis (Part 2), Local Government Perspectives: News and Views on Local Government in Sub-Saharan Africa”, Vol. 7, No. 4, pp. 18–24.

Irina BILOUSEAC (2009), “The Distinction between Decentralization and Deconcentration of Public Services”, Published by The Annals of The "?tefan cel Mare" University of Suceava, Fascicle of The Faculty of Economics and Public Administration Vol. 9, No. 2(10).

James A. Opare, Godwin R. K. Egbenya, Margaret Kaba & Joshua Baku (2012), “Effectiveness of Decentralization in Ghana”, JERA/RARE 4, © Editions Universitaires de Côte d’Ivoire.

Kassimir Ronald (2001), “Producing local politics: Governance, representation and non-state organizations in Africa”, In Thomas Callaghy, Ronald Kassimir and Robert Lutham (eds.), “Intervention and Transnationalism in Africa: Global-Local Networks of Power”, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Lonsdale John (1986), “Political accountability in African history”, In Patrick Chabal (ed.), “Political Domination in Africa”, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Michael Kiwanuka (2012), “Decentralization and Good Governance in Africa: Institutional Challenges to Uganda's Local Governments”, Management Consultant, Uganda Management Institute, Kampala, Uganda, The Journal of African & Asian Local Government Studies.

Moore Mick (1997), “Death Without Taxes: Democracy, State Capacity, and Aid Dependence in the Fourth World”, published in G. White and M. Robinson (eds.), 1998, Towards a Democratic Developmental State. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Oyugi Walter O. (2000), “Decentralization for good governance and development: The unending debate”, Regional Development Dialogue, Vol. 21, No. 1, Spring, pp. 3–22.

Prud’homme Remy (2001), “Fiscal Decentralization and Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations”, Summary report for the UNCDF Symposium on Decentralization and Local Governance in Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, 26–30 March. UNCDF, New York.

Ribot Jesse C. (1999), “Decentralization, participation and accountability in Sahelian forestry: Legal instruments of political-administrative control”, Africa, Vol. 69, No. 1, January

Ribot Jesse C. (1998), “Theorizing access: Forest profits along Senegal’s charcoal commodity chain”, Development and Change, Vol. 29, pp. 307–341.

Ribot Jesse C. (1996), “Participation without representation: Chiefs, councils and rural representation”, Cultural Survival Quarterly, Fall, (Special issue on Participation, Pauline Peters (ed.).

Rob Goffee and Gareth Jones (2007), “Leadership – What is it?”, 01-Rowe-45233.qxd. 3/26/2007, 12:53PM, p1-28.

Samuel P Huntington (1991), “Democracy's Third Wave”, Journal of Democracy Vol.2. No.2, Spring.

Utting Peter (ed.) (1999), “Forest Policy and Politics in the Philippines: The Dynamics of Participatory Conservation”, Mimeo, Published by UNRISD and Ateneo de Manila University Press. Quezon City, Philippines. 2000.

Vikas Nath (2000), “Political Decentralisation – a complementary rather than a substitution approach”, Inlaks Fellow, London School of Economics, V.Nath@lse.ac.uk , V.Nath-Alumni@lse.ac.uk http://www.VikasNath.org

Porter Gina and Einir Young (1998), “Decentralized environmental management and popular participation in coastal Ghana”, Journal of International Development, Vol. 10, pp. 515–526.

Ronald W. Johnson & Henry P. Minis (2000) “Toward Democratic Decentralization: Approaches to Promoting Good Governance” Washington DC.

Policies, Declarations, Charters and Legal Instruments

Council of Europe (2008), “International Charters on Local Self-Government European Charter and World Charter” Compiled and Produced by Council of Europe.

Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (2011), “Programme for Accelerated Growth and Employment (PAGE) 2012 -2015”, Republic of The Gambia.

Ministry of Local Governments and Lands (2007), “National Policy on Decentralization”, Republic of The Gambia.

Ministry of Local Governments and Lands (2004), “The Local Government Finance and Audit Act 2004”, Republic of The Gambia.

Ministry of Local Governments and Lands (2002), “The Gambia Local Government Act 2002 – As Amended”, Reproduced and Distributed by National Council for Civic Education, Republic of The Gambia.

The Gambia (1997), “1997 Constitution of the Second Republic of The Gambia”, Printed and Distributed by The Gambia National Printing and Stationery Corporation, Kanifing, The Gambia.

Dissertations, Researches, Thesis and Notes:

Buba A. S. Joof (2001),  Decentralisation and Rural Development in The Gambia: Analysis of Divisional Co-ordinating Structure,  A Dissertation Submitted to the School of Development Studies of the University of East Anglia (unpublished).

Machel McCatty (2004), “The Process of Rural-Urban Migration in Developing Countries”, An Honours essay submitted to Carleton University in fulfillment of the requirements for the course ECON 4908, as credit toward the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Economics, Department of Economics, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario.

Soma Bhowmick (2007), “History of Democratic Decentralisation in India”, Thesis submitted for an award of a degreeat the Gauhati University Published by Academia (www.academia.edu).

Zoë Scott (2009), “Decentralisation, Local Development and Social Cohesion: An Analytical Review”, The Governance and Social Development Resource Centre (GSDRC) Research Paper.

Congresses, Conferences, Seminars, Workshops and Working/Programme Papers:

Braun, Von Joachim and Grote, Ulrike, (2000), “Does Decentralization Serve the Poor?” Paper read at IMF Conference on Fiscal Decentralization, Washington DC.

Crook Richard C. and Alan Sturia Sverrisson (2001), “Decentralization and Poverty-Alleviation in Developing Countries: A Comparative Analysis or, is West Bengal Unique?” Working Paper 130, IDS, Brighton.

Ekoko François (2000), “Environmental Adjustment in Cameroon: Challenges and Opportunities for Policy Reform in the Forestry Sector.” Draft paper. WRI.

Etoungou Patrice (2001), ‘L’impense des forêts communautaires: Décentralisation à l’est du Cameroun, Draft paper for the programme on Decentralization and the Environment”, WRI and CIFOR-Cameroon, June, Yaoundé, Mimeo.

Giorgio Brosio (1999), “Decentralization in Africa”, Conference on Local Government in Eastern and Southern Africa, Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.

Herman Touo (2014), “Decentralization, crises of governance and citizens’ participation in Cameroon”, IPSA WORLD CONGRESS, Montréal Canada.

Jesse C. Ribot (2002), “African Decentralization: Local Actors, Powers and Accountability”, UNRISD Programme on Democracy, Governance and Human Rights, Paper Number 8.

Onyach-Olaa Martin and Doug Porter (2000), “Local Government Performance and Decentralisation in Uganda: Implications for Central Governments and Donors”. Draft paper, Mimeo.

Parker Andrew N. (1995), “Decentralization: The Way Forward for Rural Development?” Policy Research Working Paper 1475, Agriculture and Natural Resources Department, World Bank, Washington, DC.

Smoke Paul (2001), “Fiscal Decentralization in Developing Countries: A Review of Current Concepts and Practice”, Paper No. 2, Programme on Democracy, Governance and Human Rights, UNRISD, Geneva, (Forthcoming in Yusuf Bangura (ed.). Public Sector Reform, Governance and Institutional Change, UNRISD, Geneva.).

Therkildsen Ole (2001), “Efficiency, Accountability and Implementation: Public Sector Reform in East and Southern Africa”,  Draft of Paper No. 3, Programme on Democracy, Governance and Human Rights, UNRISD, Geneva, February, Mimeo.

Therkildsen Ole (1993), “Legitimacy, local governments and natural resource management in Sub-Saharan Africa”, In Henrik Secher Marcussen (ed.), “Institutional Issues in Natural Resources Management: With Special Reference to Arid and Semi-Arid Areas in Africa”, Occasional Paper No. 9, International Development Studies, Roskilde University, Denmark.

Reports:

Brinkerhoff Derick W. (2001), “Taking Account of Accountability: A Conceptual Overview and Strategic Options”, Draft report for the Implementing Policy Change Project, Phase 2, Center for Democracy and Governance, USAID. Abt. Associates, Inc., Washington, DC. Mimeo.

Kofi Annan (1999), “Preventing War and Disaster, Annual Report on the Work of the Organisation”, United Nations Organisation, New York.

Momodou Mustapha Fanneh, Mr. Alieu Ndow and Yaya S Jallow (2013), “Growth Drivers, Poverty and Inequality in The Gambia” Report Submitted on Republic of Th Gambia.

Munawwar Alam and Rishi Athreya, (2008), “Decentralisation in The Gambia in the Context of the National Development Agenda”, In Munawwar Alam, (ed.), “Decentralisation in The Gambia”, Report of a High-level Workshop held in Banjul, The Gambia, 7-9 April 2008, Commonwealth Secretariat.

Olowu Dele (2001), “Local Political and Institutional Structures and Processes”, Summary report prepared for the UNCDF Symposium on Decentralization and Local Governance in Africa, Cape Town, South Africa, 26–30 March, UNCDF, New York.

Samba Faal (2008), “Managing Change: A Local Government Perspective”, In Munawwar Alam, (ed.), “Decentralisation in The Gambia”, Report of a High-level Workshop held in Banjul, The Gambia, 7-9 April 2008, Commonwealth Secretariat

The Gambia Bureau of Statistics (2013), “The Gambia 2013 Population and Housing Census Preliminary Results”, Census Report Published by The Gambia Bureau of Statistics.               World Bank (2000), “World Development Report 1999/2000: Entering the 21st Century: The Changing Development Landscape”, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

World Bank (1989), “Report – Sub-Saharan Africa: From Crisis to Sustainable Growth”, Washington, DC.

Websites:

Google Chrome: http://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/actionaid-signs-grant-agreement-with-british-embassy, The Point Newspaper (2015), “ActionAid signs grant agreement with British Embassy” (Accessed 20 July 2015 at 10:05am GMT).

Google Chrome: http://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/gra-takes-over-revenue-collection-from-councils, Abdoulie Nyockeh (2015), “GRA takes over revenue collection from councils”, (Accessed 20 July 2015 at 10:20am GMT).

Google Chrome: http://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/councils-retake-revenue-collection-from-gra, Abdoulie Nyockeh (2015), “Councils retake revenue collection from GRA”, (Accessed 20 July 2015 at 10:25am GMT).

Google Chrome: http://www.au.int/en/content/african-charter-values-and-principles-decentralisation-local-governance-and-local-developmen, African Union (2014), “The African Charter on Values and Principles of Decentralization, Local Governance and Local Development”, (Accessed 23 August 2015 at 3:55pm GMT).

Google Chrome: http://subedi.orgfree.com/docs/Structural_Functionalism.pdf, Devi Prasad Subedi (xxx), “Structural Functional Perspective in Sociology, (Conflict Theory Alternative)” (Accessed 31 August 2015 at 4:35pm GMT).

Google Chromes; http://www.osundefender.org/?p=3294, Festus Bidoye (2009), “Provision of Social Amenities in Rural Areas”, Ajaba, Ila, Local Government, Nigeria (Accessed 29 June 2015 at 10:15am GMT).

Google Chromes: http://www.ciesin.org/decentralization/English/General/Different_forms.html, Jennie Litvack (xxx), “Different Forms of Decentralization”, Contributor: World Bank Decentralization Thematic Team (Accessed 31 August 2015 at 4:20pm GMT).

Google Chrome: http://observer.gm/bcc-inaugurates-committee-for-proper-management-of-waste/, Momodou Faal (2015), “BCC inaugurates committee for proper management of waste”, (Accessed 19 August 2015 at 5:00pm GMT).

Google Chrome: http://www.afriquelocale.org/en/news-and-events/news/item/474-workshop-to-develop-an-advocacy-to-prompte-the-signing-and-ratification-of-the-african-charter, United Cities and Local Governments (2015), “The African Charter on Values and Principles of Decentralization, Local Governance and Local Development”, Workshop, (Accessed 23 August 2015 at 3:55pm GMT).