African Journal of Public Affairs

This article aims to investigate the policy challenges associated with road infrastructure projects in Uganda and why there are persistent delays in the implementation of road projects, cost overruns, and substandard work.

The article adopted a cross-sectional research design, while surveys and interviews were used for data collection. A Relative Importance Index (RII) was used to determine the relative importance of how contractors’ delayed payments affect the completion of road projects. Kendell’s Coefficient of Concordance was applied to determine the degree of agreement among participants concerning perceived delays to completing road projects and regression analysis and correlations were used to test the hypothesis.

In terms of policy implications, the study established performance problems relating to road infrastructure projects, which can be used as a measure to help mitigate the existing challenges. The study found that a number of factors that directly influence the performance of road infrastructure projects are institutional in nature. It also found that time overruns resulted in spending additional time on site, which raises operational costs. In view of this, the study found that the payment of contractors should be planned properly by initiating appropriate mitigating measures against potential risks, such as delayed disbursement of funds by external financiers, delayed approval of contractors’ payment requests, political interference, as well as financial misappropriation by employers, among others.

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems continue to be at the centre of and a reference point for effective public service performance management ethos. A clear distinction exists between performance measurement and performance management, the latter carrying an addition for use of M&E performance information generated from the M&E systems. The performance management regime has been overtaken by the new public governance or the so-called “New Public Service” that goes deeper in suggesting a wholesale use of M&E information within complexities of stakeholder management and the public service political space. The debate on the consumption of M&E performance information starts in the quest for pursuing an agreement in the public interest. Evidence demonstrates that politics and political space affect the level of adoption and use of M&E information. The ferocity of politics and complexities of the political operating environment have the ability of distressing consumption of M&E information.

Public administration and the public service are facing a crisis. Whether it is casual claims of a “deep state” conspiracy in the United States or the seeming tolerance of authoritarian governments by the electorates in South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa the idea and ideal of professionalised bureaucracy as fundamental to modern government is being challenged in a way not seen since the emergence of professional governance at the end of the 19th century. The purpose of this article is to bring the discourse back to a focus on fundamental principles and values of governance.

The article adopted a qualitative observational analysis by comparing, contrasting and critically analysing relevant data and knowledge pertaining to the values of governance in the context of integrity and responsibility in the public service. Specifically, it synthesises literature and examines two fundamental governance values that continue to attract scholarly attention — integrity and responsibility. As developed here these two value perspectives are linked in the idea and ideal of theoretical insight and professional practice. The research approach also included specific unobtrusive research techniques such as concept analysis, historical analysis and documentary analysis to eliminate bias and promote conceptual and contextual analysis (Auriacombe 2016).