Observation

This was another popular question and was attempted by almost all the candidates.   The performance of the candidates who answered it was good as they really understood its demands. However, some candidates did not do well in the (b) part and they scored low marks by listing the points without further explanations. The candidates were expected to provide the following answers to the question.
           
(i)         Increasing central government grants to local authorities for developmental projects.
(ii)        The ministry of Local Government should evolve action plan for local authorities to             generate revenue internally.
(iii)       Minimizing central government interference and partisanship in local government administration.
(iv)       Improvement of service conditions of local government workers in order to attract             highly skilled personnel.
(v)        Providing funds to organize refresher courses and in-service training for workers.
(vi)       Effective internal and external auditing of accounts.
(vii)      Effective ministerial control to avoid misappropriation and misapplication as well as misallocation of funds.
(viii)     Provision of adequate logistics for local authorities e.g. vehicles, furniture and                   computer facilities.
(ix)       Assembly/Council members should be democratically elected to serve the interest of the people.
(x)        Transparent appointment of local government administrators.
(xi)       Application of technology in the operations of the Local Government system.
(xii)      Granting of financial autonomy to the local government unit.
(xiii)     The central government should scrutinize all loans contracted by local government.