The local councillors and the usage of the local participatory instruments in Uganda: local saviours or democratic tyrants?

While the third wave of democracy has seen numerous instruments of participation implemented at the local and national levels, recently both developed and developing democracies have continued to face a crisis in local democratic participation. In Uganda, local councillors utilise representative, expressive, direct democratic and deliberative democratic instruments of participation. However, the survey results from 320 local councillors in Uganda show that local democratic participatory instruments are inappropriately used or are captured by local elites. For instance, the results indicate that local councillors with high incomes and educational backgrounds dominate the usage of local instruments of participation.