TITLE:
Urban Governance in the Changing Economic and Political Landscapes: A Comparative Analysis of Major Urban Centres of Tanzania
AUTHORS:
John Modestus Lupala
KEYWORDS:
Urban Governance, Economic and Political Landscapes, Urban Centres, Tanzania
JOURNAL NAME:
Current Urban Studies,
Vol.3 No.2,
June
30,
2015
ABSTRACT: Urban development in many cities of the developing world has been facing innumerable challenges
some of which are historical but others attributed to governance. While the changing socioeconomic
and political landscapes have been shaping the pattern of urban governance in these cities,
studies underscoring the link between central, local governments and the citizenry are scanty.
This paper attempts to analyze urban governance in the Tanzanian context drawing empirical
evidence and lessons from eight major urban centres of Tanzania. This paper is a product of the
study that was carried out to examine the state of cities in eight (8) major urban centres of Tanzania
between 2010 and 2013. It attempts to compare governance issues and develop some indices
across major urban centres of Tanzania. The data collection methods included household interviews,
review of official records, workshops, group discussion and reports from city coordinators.
The results show that: although Tanzania has made some strides towards effective urban governance,
the level of achievement varied from one city to another. Poor performance was noted on
parameters of continued centralization of power by the central government, continued financial
dependency on central government, limited participation and civic engagement of local communities
in development projects and political undertakings. As a way forward it has been recommended
that there is an urgent need to re-orient the on-going local government reform programmes
to ensure that true decentralised functions, powers and mandates are exercised from
below. This should be accompanied with capacity building to ensure effective participation of key
stakeholders.