Author(s)

Biryomumeisho Justus^1*, Akena Denis Uma²

¹Department of Accounting and Finance, Gulu University, Gulu, Uganda.
²Department of Public Administration and Management, Gulu University, Gulu, Uganda.

The study aims at examining governance in the promotion of human development in Gulu District with particular reference to Gulu Municipality. The research was conducted using 387 participants in Gulu Municipality and adopted quantitative design with random stratified sampling technique. The data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient, regression and descriptive statistics. The study indicated that 200 (51.7%) were male and 187 (48.3%) were female. The study finds that greater levels of accountability, participation and absence of corruption are associated with greater levels of human development. Correlation analysis results showed that there is a significant positive relationship between accountability and human development (r = 0.351, p = 0.000). There is a significant positive relationship between government efficiency, participation and control of corruption and human development (r = 0.317, p = 0.000; r = 0.378, p = 0.000; and r = 0.416, p = 0.000) respectively. The relationship between bribery and human development is very low and insignificant. Overall, there is a significant positive relationship between good governance and human development (r = 0.477, p = 0.000). The regression analysis shows that good governance explains 24.4% of the variations in human development (Adjusted R² = 0.244, Sig. F change = 0.000). The study findings indicate that the best predictors of human development were accountability, participation and control of corruption. The worst predictor was government efficiency. The study concludes that bribery is neither associated with human development nor any attributes of good governance.

Governance, Human Development, Accountability, Corruption, Transparency, Participation, Local Government

Justus, B. and Uma, A. (2016) Governance and Human Development in Gulu District: A Case Study of Gulu Municipality. Open Journal of Business and Management, 4, 361-375. doi: 10.4236/ojbm.2016.42039.