Slapping Accountability in the Face: Observance of Accountability in Malawi's Local Governments in the Absence of Councilors

Abstract

Against the background of Malawi having had no councilors since the second quarter of 2005, this article aims at establishing the effects of the absence of councilors on the promotion of accountability as a tenet of good governance as espoused in the National Decentralization Policy. Adopting a mixed research design with a strong bias towards qualitative research methodologies, the article finds out that in the absence of councilors, observance of accountability by local governments has been negatively affected. The article argues that in the absence of councilors there has been reversal of accountabilities whereby horizontal accountability has been given more emphasis than vertical accountability; having a secretariat that is both a decision-maker and implementer of decisions has been a recipe for abuse of power; and interim mechanisms and emerging institutions responsible for advocating accountability are limited and a mockery of good governance.

“Government Doesn't Have the Muscle”: State, NGOs, Local Politics, and Disaster Risk Governance in Malawi

“…The findings conclusively contradict previous assertions that the absence of local councilors was paralyzing the governance of local councils (Chasukwa & Chinsinga, ; Kayuni & Tambulasi, ; Tambulasi, ). What comes out clear is that local councilors and MPs do provide oversight role, but this is usually during disasters and often done to ensure that relief items go to their areas.…”

“…Concerns have also been raised on the absence of a decentralized disaster risk governance system in Malawi. However, the overall decentralized system in Malawi has largely been inefficient and previous studies have attributed this to the absence of local councilors, inadequate fiscal and human resource devolution, political settlements, and related principal‐agent challenges (Chasukwa & Chinsinga, ; Chiweza, ; Kayuni & Tambulasi, ; O'Neil et al, ; Tambulasi, ).…”

Peran Akuntabilitas Pemerintah Desa Dalam Membangun Kepercayaan Publik

“…Akuntabi litas kepada masyarakat tidak hanya for malitas saja sebagaimana yang disyaratkan dalam peraturan yang berlaku. Teori stakeholder menjelaskan bahwa seorang principal menyewa agent untuk bertanggung jawab kepada semua pihak yang berkepentingan secara umum, tidak hanya sebatas bertang gung jawab kepada prinsipal yang menyewa saja (Chasukwa & Chinsinga, 2013;Costello, Petacchi, & Weber, 2017;Mookherjee, 2014;O'Leary, 2017). Akuntabilitas kepada masyarakat penting untuk dilakukan sebagai pihak yang bersinggungan langsung dengan kebijakan yang dilakukan oleh pemerintah desa.…”

Voicing noise: Political agency and the trialectics of participation in urban Malawi

“…The assemblies were therefore dissolved in 2005 and local government elections were postponed for a decade until it was successfully organized on the initiative of President Joyce Banda (2012-2014) in 2015. In the meantime, local governments were run by technocrats who -without councils -were directly answerable to the central authority (Chasukwa and Chinsinga, 2013). Governments, but these are typically used to buy votes and cement political backing (Cammack, 2012b).…”