Decentralized Governance in Multi-Party Systems in Uganda: Challenges to Service Delivery in Local Governments of Uganda.

Political parties are believed to play an essential role in the functioning of modern democracy. They are central actors in a democratic system that organize and articulate interests and ensure political participation and competition, a major feature of local governance and democracy. Political parties perform several roles critical to the functioning of a democracy as they are the central means to aggregate interests and thereby translate mass preferences into public policy. Uganda's case has been an ambitious decentralization policy with real power transfers from central government to local governments. The country has also transited from a non-party 'movement system ' to a multiparty dispensation. In spite of this, the country is still grappling with the challenge of service delivery. This study was a cross sectional survey that adopted a case study design to examine the challenges of local governance in a multi-party dispensation on service delivery in Uganda. Findings indicate that the functioning of local governments in this new political discourse of multiparty dispensation is yet to have a positive impact on service delivery. The multi-party awareness does not tally with the practice. The study concluded that the policy disharmony, the multiparty operation awareness and the internal party democracies have had minimal contribution to service delivery in local governments in Uganda