How Far the Local Government Institutions Ensure Public Accountability? An Analysis of UpazilaParishads of Bangladesh

Chandrika Roy, Hosneara Dalia

Abstract

Public accountability mainly relates to subjects of public concern domain, such as the spending of public funds, the exercise of public authorities, or the conduct of public institutions.All countries all over the world strive to ensure the accountability of public officials by adopting different kinds of mechanisms.Therefore, public accountability is the hallmark of effective good governance.  In reality, Bangladesh is one of the most governance deficit countries in the world. Whereas, Upazila system, as an intermediate tier of the local government unit,there exists due accountability system of Upazila officers.By focusing on these rationales,the study attempts to explore the reality of ensuring accountability for citizens by the local government bodies through a comparative analysis. The study also tries to find out what factors responsible for hindering accountability practices in local government institutions. However,the study found that local government institutions in Bangladesh are very weak in providing basic services to the citizens and in promoting good governance to their constituencies due to a variety of constraints, including a lack of revenues, a low level of human capital in the local government bodies, the absence of participatory decision-making, and the lack of accountability and transparency.Therefore, the paper aims to provide practical solutions. It reveals some strategies to overcome the accountability challenges of local governance at the Upazila system and also highlights the tools for fighting against these challenges.

Full Text: PDF