In the shadow of institutionality: assessing Uganda’s accountability mechanisms at local government level

Uganda has established several institutions and mechanisms to enhance accountability and transparency. There are formal accountability institutions, and other mechanisms that are formal but incorporate elements of social accountability by design. These include the District Integrity Promotion Forum (DIPF) and baraza – a platform for public engagement in local democracy and accountability. The DIPF acts as a watchdog to identify corruption tendencies at an early stage and act immediately. But factors ranging from political to economic and even social attitudes have heavily affected the functionality and success of these measures, rendering especially those at the local government level more or less paper mechanisms making minimal contributions towards improving accountability. This paper explores whether the DIPF and the baraza have been able to enhance accountability at the local government level. It further examines their design and other shortfalls affecting their operation.