Delegation and Administrative Decision Making in Central Government Institutions in Somalia

Abstract: In Somali political science literature, the term delegation has been used rather loosely to refer to a wide range of actions and decisions by central governments. These include decisions about agency creation, budgetary allocation, specific project implementation, as well as general decisions on policy and legislation. This last category of delegation is what it known as political delegation, and a focus of a significant amount of delegation theory. Other forms of delegation are decisions of devolution, where the central government assigns tasks and responsibilities to entities who are not part of the government itself. Finally there is private delegation, it may be assumed that this is the most common form of delegated action in Somalia. This is simply delegation whereby a government contracts a private entity to carry out a function on its behalf. Extensive review of existing documentation involved gathering and analyzing existing information related to studies on decentralization and administrative decision making in Somalia. This data collection method is useful in its relevance and importance to providing an understanding of the issues surrounding decentralization and decision making in Somalia. The quality of the data collected allowed for an analysis in answering the research questions. This provided valuable insight in building a context for the study and an understanding of the changes that had occurred in the structure of political institutions in Somalia and an understanding of administration and its effectiveness in the current state of decentralized governance in which it is conducted. This is important in knowing the presence of administrative structures and identifying which areas, either in the capital or in regional districts, need work on in developing or trying to apply new administrative structures.

We used a multifaceted data collection technique to gain an in-depth understanding of the issue under investigation. The method used includes extensive review of existing documentation and studies on the subject, non-participant observations, semi-structured interviews, and case studies. Data collected through all the various methods was triangulated. This is important as it allows for comprehensive analysis of the data in answering the research question. Each of the specific data collection methods is detailed further below. The data analysis techniques that are to be used in this research are both qualitative and quantitative. The techniques to be used were very carefully chosen in order to ensure the optimal analysis of the data. The SPSS program will be used for the quantitative analysis. This is an ideal program to be used with quantitative analysis, and also is the easiest to use when compared to other similar programs. It will allow the research to neatly and accurately analyze the results of the survey in a clear and understandable fashion. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) is a comprehensive system for analyzing data. SPSS can take data from almost any type of file and use them to generate tabulated reports, plots of distributions and trends, and complex statistical analyses. The qualitative portion of the data will be analyzed using a paper and pen. This type of analysis is known to be the most effective when conducting a manual form of qualitative analysis. The comments given from the interviews will be transferred onto paper in order to neatly catalogue and organize the information. This information will then be broken down into categories. This can be achieved through cutting up the interview comments into pertinent sentences and sticking these comments into relevant categories. Once all the information has been categorized, it will be possible to compare comments from the different interviews and amalgamate the information into a final set of results. This final set of results will be put onto the computer and transferred into a written format. This final format can be readily available for comparison with the results of the quantitative analysis. The manual qualitative analysis is aimed to be completed by the end of the first month after the surveys have been taken. The time frame set for this to be completed is well within the time frame of the research at hand. This will allow the research to move swiftly from the qualitative analysis to a comparison of the results with the quantitative analysis.Simulation programs can provide safe spaces for administrators to engage in decision-making and cultivate shared understanding and common goals, without fear of real-world consequences—so long as the simulation itself is deemed a relevant reality. Over the long term, with necessary improvements in national security and political order, extensions of this sort of decision-making beyond the simulation and into the real world may become possible for future Somali leaders.

A "culture of belonging" also requires some sense of ownership at the policy level on the part of the administrators and general populace. Unfortunately, effective ownership of decisions has rarely been possible for Somali leaders. Political and civil service leaders during the 1970s and early 1980s often sought to modify or even overturn decisions imposed by Siad Barre while implementing them in such a way as to avoid political risk. Since the collapse of the Somali state in 1991, international actors and external forces have heavily influenced the decisions of Somali administrations. This has been both despite and because of the relative weakness of post-1991 administrations and the fragmentation of the Somali state. High external rents and limited incentives for seeking domestic revenue have often made it more rational for Somali leaders to simply rent out sectors of their country to the highest bidder, rather than attempt to actually govern those sectors. This has meant little need for policy decisions but decision-making by default. During the 2000s, the Ethiopian government provided extensive resources in an attempt to establish a friendly administration in the Ethiopia-allied region of Somaliland. The Ethiopian administration was heavily involved in many Somaliland policy decisions, which were often made with a view to placating Ethiopia and obtaining further resources, rather than serving the interests of the people of Somaliland. Any attempt to promote a "culture of belonging" and policy ownership would be difficult to reverse.

The process of administrative decision-making in Somalia could become more relevant to the process of policy implementation and less dominated by political considerations if a "culture of belonging" were achievable in Somali society. This would require a fairly high degree of consensus among Somali political leaders on the nature of the society and the preferred direction for its development, as well as agreement on political ground rules. Given the current divisions of Somalia into de facto independent regional administrations and failure to implement a series of agreements to establish a federal system of rule, it is not clear whether this would be achievable on a nationwide basis in the near future. Coincident with the thinking of the World Bank on the need for "development of a set of shared purposes or common goals," some degree of common understanding among Somali leaders on national priorities and values would also be required to clarify the major goals of development and what Somali people wanted to achieve.

Keywords: Delegation, Administrative, Decision Making, Central Government, public policies.

Title: Delegation and Administrative Decision Making in Central Government Institutions in Somalia

Author: Dr. Abdifatah Ahmed Ali Afyare

International Journal of Novel Research in Humanity and Social Sciences

ISSN 2394-9694

Vol. 11, Issue 2, March 2024 - April 2024

Page No: 26-39

Novelty Journals

Website: www.noveltyjournals.com

Published Date: 23-April-2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.11046209

Paper Download Link (Source)

https://www.noveltyjournals.com/upload/paper/Delegation%20and%20Administrative%20Decision-23042024-1.pdf