Decentralization without Local Development in Municipalities in Mozambique

Abstract

Under the decentralization law 2/97, Mozambique created the first 33 municipalities, whose implementation started after the municipal elections in 1998. With the approval of the new decentralization law 6/2018, the Mozambique decentralization process completed 20 years. Decentralization is, generally, believed to be one of the best public administration reforms for a central government to be efficient for service provision and promote local development through enhanced capacity of local government. However, the past 20 years of the municipalization of the first 33 municipalities appear to tell a different story due to two contexts: the post 16 years (1976/7 to 1992) armed conflict and the successive violent electoral conflicts from 1999 to 2018. As contexts differ, from country to country, this article asks to what extend the two contexts influenced the socio-political dynamics and political logic of the central government and the main political parties when adhering to decentralization reforms in Mozambique? What were the limitations and implications and why Mozambique decentralization process did not promote local development? Based on qualitative method and using the case of Municipality of Tete, the article identifies the limitations and analyses the impact of the two inter-related conflict contexts for hindering local development in the municipalities in Mozambique. Two theories are used in this article: the theory of public administration and the theories of development, namely, modernization and neoliberalism. The study findings show that over the last 20 years, the decentralization in Mozambican did not promote local development because it has been centred on the primacy of politics over local development. The article concludes that if decentralization is to promote local development both politics and developmental priorities should inform State reform and government strategy to fulfil their functions, each at its own level whether central or local in line with assigned competencies and resources.