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| Public Financial management and service delivery in Kisoro Local Government, Kisoro District
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Professor Nafiu Lukman Abiodun, Dr Friday Christopher
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Abstract:
Effective public financial management and optimal utilization of limited resources is imperative for local governments like Kisoro to satisfactorily deliver basic social services and impact communities' livelihoods. However, deficiencies persist within the local authority's mechanisms for mobilizing adequate revenues, allocating budgets transparently, procuring goods and works cost-effectively as well as strengthening accountability and oversight functions. Concurrently, outcomes in expanding citizen access to essential public services especially in remote rural settings leave much to be desired despite ongoing population growth and rising expectations. Against this backdrop, this study aimed to conduct an encompassing examination into the interplay between financial management practices and service delivery performance within Kisoro Local Government between 2015 to 2020. A mixed methods research design was employed involving collection of both quantitative and qualitative primary data from diverse sources including document reviews, financial records analyses, facility audits, household surveys and key informant interviews. Statistical analyses using SPSS and STATA as well as thematic syntheses facilitated by NVivo software were carried out. Findings revealed budgeting, expenditure and transparency constraints impeding optimized sector budgeting for education, health and water services. Infrastructure, staffing and resource availability deficiencies particularly in hard to reach communities undermined equitable universal access. Crucially, service delivery demonstrated an extremely strong positive correlation (r = 0.805) with stakeholder interests that was exceptionally statistically significant based on a two-tailed test with ? = 0.01. With a p-value of 0.000 being markedly lower than the critical value, the null hypothesis of zero correlation can be rejected with 99% confidence. Recommendations focused on modernizing systems, skills enhancement, revenue expansion through partnerships and strengthened multi-sector coordination to remedy bottlenecks constraining improved welfare outcomes.
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