Abstract:
The study examined the Financial Decentralization in Service Delivery in Local Government in
Uganda: A Case of Ibanda Municipal Council (IMC). The study was guided by the following
objectives: To establish the forms of fiscal decentralization in IMC, to evaluate the influence of
fiscal decentralization on service delivery in IMC, to examine the problems associated with fiscal
decentralization to service delivery in IMC and to establish the strategies for improving service
delivery under decentralization in IMC. The research design used both descriptive and cross
sectional research. A sample of 67 respondents from IMC. The methodology used in this study
was both qualitative and quantitative. The questionnaire and interview guide were the main
instruments of data collection. Quantitative data was analyzed using frequency counts, means
and percentages while qualitative data was analyzed by tallying the numbers of similar
responses.
The study revealed that there were various forms of decentralization which include political
decentralization and administrative decentralization. From the study, political decentralization
aims to give citizens or their elected representatives more power in public decision-making. It is
often associated with pluralistic politics and representative government, but it can also support
democratization by giving citizens, or their representatives, more influence in the formulation
and implementation of policies. From the study, the council and management carry out financial
planning among the various priority areas such as education, health, road construction and other
vital services. The research study found out that fiscal decentralization is still a feasible strategy
for bringing about improved service delivery in IMC or local government. In IMC there is
efficiency of decentralization on how the authority to tax and spend is distributed between the
central and local government for better service delivery
The study therefore recommends that fiscal decentralization should be implemented along with
other policies to help monitor for corruption, nepotism, accountability and value for money on all
government contracts sourced at local government levels. The local communities should also be
directly involved in evaluating the works of contractors to ensure there is value for money
