Municipal Governance Essay

CHAPTER 1

1. INTRODUCTION

The municipal governance is one of the key areas of focus of the government of Afghanistan over the last 10 years. After fall of the Taliban government, the Interim Government of Afghanistan (IGA) paid focused attention in ensuring good governance across the country; however, it was very ineffective until end of 2006. With creation of the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) in 2007 (Presidential Decree #72, 2007), the government became more serious to facilitate effective local governance as part its overall administration of the country. The first paragraph of presidential decree # 72 mandates IDLG as “The new office will supervise the affairs related to the governors and district governors and their

In spite of this huge responsibility toward city and citizens, municipalities are the non-budgetary entities in the government structure but are authorized to generate their own revenue. Meanwhile, municipalities are mandated to ensure effective urban governance across their jurisdiction to bridge the gap between people and government. They are to enhance revenue collection from its own sources, improve service delivery to their constituents, engage citizen in their decision making, educate people to fulfil their obligation towards their cities, it is thus realized that urban development and change in welfare of citizens depends on effective municipal governance. The problem being investigated in this study is related to lack of effectiveness and efficiency in implementation of donor funded program in municipalities over the last 13 years. With regards to the facts that so far over USD 500million have been spent in Afghanistan municipalities to address governance challenges including transparency and accountability, poor service delivery, improper waste management, deteriorating revenue management practices, corruption, lack of citizen awareness and their engagement in municipal decision making etc. still the country face the same situation they did 13 years back. The municipalities reflect decrease in their revenue collection in 1393 over that of

However, they spent their donations and loans through their contractors which seems the fraud risk is much higher and most of the amount is spent on their operational and security. The proof for this is SIGAR audit reports of USAID projects which focuses on financial sections indicates a huge number of financial inappropriateness (SIGAR 14-100 Financial Audit -2014). Furthermore, the contractor’s relation with municipalities paved the way for misuse of financial resources; thus, the other main objectives