In post-conflict Northern Uganda, quite some work is going on to make the transition from emergency to recovery and development. When I asked around about efforts focusing on governance, I got the impression not much was going on. As a matter of fact, when you take a close look at the few programmes that have ‘governance’ in the title, you’ll find mainly support for building government offices. This made me wonder; who is supporting the ‘software’ of all this? Who is ensuring that proper governance functions will actually be carried out from these offices? Who will address democratic processes in society itself?

For one, it is quite unlikely that the national and local government will take these things up. The 30% government funds that go into the Peace, Recovery and Development Programme in the north have to be spent on tangibles only; a requirement from government to the districts. (Not surprising, in a pre-election year when the NRM would like to show some visible output to win northern votes). The UN takes quite a technical approach to enhancing governance in its new programme UNPRAP; planning and budgeting skills. However, these activities hardly extend to the lower levels of government. The NGOs then? I must say, Gulu NGO Forum, Kitgum NGO Forum and Acord do most interesting work, but they seem to be the only ones working on democratic governance at the lowest levels of government and in communities. This will hardly be enough to make local democracies function and restore political trust.

Then, many aid agencies assume that once government services and outputs improve, this will automatically lead to greater trust in government and strengthen its legitimacy. Of course service delivery needs to be enhanced – especially here. And yes, it will improve the image of government. However, this only part of the story and quite a narrow perspective on what would deepen the relationship between citizens and government. People in Northern Uganda deeply mistrust the NRM government. They feel the government has neglected them and denied them the citizenship entitlements they deserve. The fact that the government led the war continue for over 20 years is a major reason. And many Acholi suspect that the Karamojong cattle rustlers were supported and armed by the NRA/M in the late 1980s and early 1990s to raid their cattle, because they had strongly opposed the Museveni regime. And the way past elections took place in Uganda do not help much either.

These sentiments will not easily change for the positive. And just service delivery won’t do it. The face of government needs to change radically, especially for people at local level. It needs to change from betrayer to listener. Or, as a local NGO put it ‘People want to see some seriousness and commitment on the side of government.’ What is required is a strengthening of local democratic processes, dialogues between citizens and their local institutions through which both sides can express concerns and priorities. And people need to know they actually have the right to demand and question government behaviour. Working on local governance requires a holistic approach in which the role citizens and local governments is equally emphasised. So please, if your organisation wants to work on governance, then do not just take an office approach, but a citizen oriented and process oriented approach.