Abstract

This thesis aims at establishing the effects of absence of councillors on the promotion of participation and accountability, the key tenets of good governance that are espoused in the Malawi National Decentralisation Policy, Local Government Act of 1998, and the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi. The thesis focuses on the extent to which the emerging institutions from both the state and non-state spheres are effectively filling in the gap created by the dissolution of assemblies as stand-in institutions for councillors. The thesis uses the social contract and policy spaces theoretical underpinnings to explain the emerging issues that have a bearing on the promotion of participation and accountability and role of emerging institutions in the absence of councillors. Adopting a mixed research design with a strong bias towards qualitative research design, the thesis finds that in the absence of the local elected representatives, the good governance project at the local level in Malawi has been negatively affected. This is the case because formal political participation spaces have been closed and the newly created ones are not devolved beyond the assembly headquarters; citizen-state engagement has decreased; receptivity and responsiveness of the assemblies has dwindled; fusion of the roles on policy making and implementation into the hands of the secretariat has reflected the non-observance of the ‘principle of separation of powers’ and a recipe for abuse of resources. With reference to the emerging institutions as stand-in actors for councillors, the finding is that it is difficult for them to discharge the functions of councillors because they are not elected and their democratic and legal status is questioned to the effect that they cannot enact by-laws and pass the local budget. The study also establishes that the emerging institutions are incapacitated to play the role of stand-in actors for councillors because they are donor dependent, project oriented, and operating in the peripheral of the clique of bureaucrats managing affairs at the local level hence having little influence in the decision making process. The thesis concludes that when the councillors are back, they have to engage well thought deliberate strategy to reclaim their political space that has been appropriated by different actors, chiefly the central government political agents.

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School	: School of Law, Economics and Government
Issued Date	: 2010

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