BERSISA, K. & ZIGIJU, S.

ETHIOPIAN PUBLIC AD-

M I N I S T R AT I O N , G O V E R -
NANCE AND ETHICS

E T H I O P I A N C I V I L S E RV I C E U N I V E R S I T Y
Copyright © 2014 Bersisa, K. & Zigiju, S.

published by ethiopian civil service university

http://www.ecsu.edu.et

First printing, October 2014

Contents

1 Public Administration 11
1.1 What is public administration? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
1.2 Evolution of Public Administration? . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.3 Politics and Public Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
1.4 Characteristics of Public Administration . . . . . . . . . 16
1.5 Pillars of Public Administration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.6 Distinction between Public and Private Administration 18
1.7 Environment of Public Administration . . . . . . . . . 23
1.8 Institutional setting of public administration . . . . . . 25
1.9 Types, Forms and Systems of Government . . . . . . . 28
1.9.1 Types of Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.9.2 Forms of Government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.9.3 Systems of government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
1.10 Decentralization under the federal form of government 30
1.10.1 Forms of Decentralization . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
1.10.2 Advantages of Decentralization . . . . . . . . . 34
1.11 Public administration in developed versus in develop-
ing countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
1.11.1 Public administration in developed countries . 36
1.11.2 Public administration in developing countries . 37
1.12 Public administration in Ethiopia . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
1.12.1 Early Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
1.12.2 Ethiopian Public Administration during the Der-
gue Era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
1.12.3 The Current Ethiopian Public Administration . 44
1.13 Public Administration and Local Government in Ethiopia 47
1.14 Public Administration and Local Government in Ethiopia 48
1.14.1 Challenges of public administration reform . . 49
1.14.2 Major issues that trigger continuous changes in
public administration of the country . . . . . . . 49
List of Figures

1.1 Systems of government 31

List of Tables

1.1 The distinction between public administration and private ad-

ministration 22
1.2 Types of Government 29
1.3 Comparative advantage for the three forms of government 30
1.4 Comparision between parliamentary and presidential systems 32
1.5 Major forms of decentralisation 33
1.6 Ministers appointed 1907 by Menelik 40
Introduction

This module is offered as a basic knowledge module for all master’s

program students in the Ethiopian Civil Service University. It com-
prises an aggregate of selected disciplines with the aim of enabling
learners gain fundamental knowledge in areas related to public ad-
ministration, governance, public service delivery, ethics and profes-
sionalism, and change management.
Public administration is wide in scope and embraces making sug-
gestions for how to improve the performance of government imple-
mentation, that is to say what actually had to happen inside the gov-
ernment for a good idea to turn into reality and oriented towards
strategic actions by top organizational leaders, in particular interact-
ing with the political system. A major challenge confronting public
administrators today is how to achieve organizational effectiveness,
maintain service quality, and increase public satisfaction. This justi-
fies the need for public sector as an institution and public adminis-
trators as individuals to recognize that the old bureaucratized oper-
ations, organization-centered service, and rigid business systems no
longer make them competitive. Consequently, public administrators
need to understand the need for human centered, efficient, result
oriented, and flexible public administration for improved public ad-
ministration.
Since the whole notion of having public administration intuitions
and its echelons is to put the decisions of politicians into practice,
it is an obligatory for public administrators to have adequate under-
standing of the political and legal contexts in which they operate.
Hence, there is a need for public sectors as an institution and public
administrators as individuals to stick to and guided by constitutional
principles and provisions while undertaking their activities which of
course demands the administrators to have the basic knowledge of
constitutional principles in general and provisions of the Ethiopian
constitution in particular.
Within the political and legal context, there are institutional set-
tings and governance structure that determine the operations, du-
ties and responsibilities of public administration as an intuition and
administrators as individuals. This institutional settings and gov-
ernance structure should create enabling conditions for public ad-
ministration to offer all the public services and goods in an efficient,
effective and quality manner to citizens. It is required for public
administrators to have adequate understanding of what it takes to
10

bring about this enabling conditions and how to make use of it.
Current approach to civil service ethics and professionalism pro-
ceeds on the assumption that the modern state, which exists to serve
the common good, holds both the moral legitimacy and legal author-
ity to legislate and enforce standards of acceptable behavior among
its citizens. Ethical principles and professionalism are at the core of
all legal activity by and for the state. It is thus assumed that all public
policies and programs, are moral actions, and those who formulate
and implement them are morally as well as legally accountable.
Six major units are constituted in this module in order to help
students get the knowledge, skill and attitude domains. The first
unit is designed to expose students to principles and theoretical per-
spectives of public administration. It also addresses the practices of
Ethiopian public administration based on historical and evolution-
ary analysis. In the second unit, the basic concepts and characteris-
tics of constitution will be presented and followed by discussions of
the fundamental principles, features and historical development of
Ethiopian constitutions. The intention of the unit is to help public
administrators have the basic knowledge of constitutional principles
in general and provisions of the Ethiopian constitution in particular
by which they are guided in the process of decision making. The
third unit deals with the conceptual and theoretical discussions of
governance and the Ethiopian governance structure particularly fo-
cusing on the current government. It is structured to enable students
develop the skills, knowledge and attitudes required for adopting
the most appropriate manner of governing and exercising control or
authority over actions of subjects in their various institutions and to
apply an accepted system of regulation to moderate behaviors to-
wards achieving better performances in the institutions over which
they preside. The fourth unit of the module deals with public service
delivery and change management in the public sectors. In this unit,
emphasis will be given to characteristics of public service, citizen
centered service delivery, need and models for change, change man-
agement tools, resistance to change, and mechanisms of overcoming
it. The fifth unit addresses the concepts and theories of ethics, social
responsibilities and corruption in public sector. This unit particularly
presents topics like ethical theories, ethical behaviors, social respon-
sibilities, types and causes of corruption and mechanisms of combat-
ing it. Finally, the module will be winded up with the discussion of
professionalism in the civil service.
Unit 1
Public Administration

Introduction
Public administration has been operating as a means of putting
governments’ intentions and actions in to practice for more than
a century. It is public administration that has been providing
social services such as health and education; it is public admin-
istration that has been providing economic infrastructure like
road, electricity, and communication services; and it is public
administration that has been taking care of the poor paying for
health care and retirement pension for citizens in many coun-
tries.
However, public administration has been criticized in that
it is led by highly hierarchical, authority-based command and
control arrangements and usually known as inefficient and inef-
fective in provision of goods and services. The public adminis-
tration bureaucracy in its traditional sense is said to be insuffi-
cient to address and respond to the demand of the current soci-
ety as the bureaucratic model was developed in situations very
different from today’s society. These problems have called for
a more inclusive, innovative, responsive, efficient and effective
and participatory decision making which have to be offered by
the contemporary public administration system and individual
administrators.
By introducing such issues as definition, scope, elements, en-
vironment of public administration, the difference between pub-
lic and private administration and the current development of
public administration in Ethiopia, this unit equips students with
the skills, knowledge and attitude required to make decisions
and provide services in such a way it meets the expectations of
the current society.

Learning Outcomes

After completing this unit, students will be able to ...

• define public administration,

12 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

• identify the types, forms and systems of government,

• distinguish the characteristic feature of public and private ad-

ministration,

• distinguish the differences and similarities of politics and pub-

lic administration,

• understand the history of Ethiopian public administration,

• understand the institutional setting of public administration,

• explain the pillars of public administration,

• analyze the features of public administration in developed

and developing countries and

• analyze the environment of public administration.

Guiding Questions

Before reading the chapter, please try to answer the following

questions:

• What do you think will happen to public organizations if

public administrators are negligent about the environments
in which they operate?

• List the qualities of a public administrator? Which of your list

must come first? Why?

• What do you think are the challenges of continuous growth in

size and complexity of Government activities

• What kind of tasks can be achieved more easily through pri-

vate administration, and what tasks can be achieved more eas-
ily within public administration?

• What do you think should public administrators do for better

management of public sector organizations?

1.1 What is public administration?

Administration can be defined as a cooperative human effort to-

wards achieving some common goals. It is a means by which the
policy decisions made by the decision makers are carried out. It can
be found in various institutional setting such as a business firm, a
hospital, a university, a government department and so on. As an as-
pect of this more generic concept, public administration is that species
of administration which operates within a specific political setting.
Public Administration deals with the machinery and procedures of
 public administration 13

government activities. It is decision making, planning the work to be

done, formulating objectives and goals, working with the legislature
and citizen organizations to gain public support and funds for gov-
ernment programs, establishing and revising organization, directing
and supervising employees, providing leadership, communicating
and receiving communication, determining work methods and pro-
cedures, appraising performance, exercising controls and other func-
tions performed by government executives and supervisors. It is the
action part of the government, the means by which the purposes and
goals of the government are realized.
The ’Public’ aspect of public administration gives the discipline
a special character. It can be looked at formally to mean ’govern-
ment’. So, public administration is government administration, the
focus being specifically on public bureaucracy. This is the meaning
commonly used in discussing public administration. Public Admin-
istration, in a wider sense, has sought to expand its ambit by includ-
ing any administration that has considerable impact on the public.
Some well-known definitions of public administration are indicated
in the box below:

Definition
Public Administration

• "Public administration is detailed and systematic execution

of public law. Every particular application of law is an act of
administration" L.D White.

• Public administration is "the art and science of management

applied to the affairs of the State" D. Waldo.

• "By public administration is meant in common usage the ac-

tivities of the executive branches of the National, State and
Local Governments" H. Simon.

• "Public Administration in broadest sense denotes the work

involved in the actual conduct of governmental affairs, and in
narrowest senses denotes the operations of the administrative
branch only." Willough.

• "Public Administration is that part of the science of adminis-

tration which has to do with government and thus, concerns
itself primarily with the executive branch where the work of
the government is done." Gullick.

• "Administration is concerned with ’what’ and ’How’ of the

government. The subject is the technical knowledge of afield
which enables the administrator to perform his tasks. The
’How’ is the technique of management according to which
co-operative programs are carried to success?" Marshall E. Di-
mock.
14 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

A close scrutiny of the above definitions reveals that public ad-

ministration has the following important characteristics or features:

• It is part of executive branch of government.

• It is related with the activities of the state.

• It carries out the public policies.

• It realizes the aspirations of the people as formulated and ex-

pressed in the laws.

1.2 Evolution of Public Administration?

The origin of public administration as an academic discipline can

be traced back to the publication in 1887 "the study of public ad-
ministration" by Woodrow Wilson. While the art of administration
has been practiced for centuries, it has not widely written and doc-
umented until recent years. In other words, in spite of the fact that
the system of administration continued to expand and adapt itself to
changing conditions, professional attention to the field was almost
entirely lacking until the end of the 19th century.
The first systematic approach used was studying public admin-
istration though law, which was devoted to the legal organization
of public authorities, their legal forms of action and the limits of
their power. Later on attention has been also given to administra-
tive system primarily concerned with the nature of administrative
institutions and administrative functions.
Generally, the expansion of government function gave raise for
public administration as an activity to become highly diversified
complex and specialized. Therefore there was a growing need for
better management of public affairs through scientific investigations,
for specialized training of public servants.
Rapid technological development created large scale social dislo-
cation that made state intervention imperative and desirable. Hence
scholars came to pay increasing time and attentions to the prob-
lems. The scientific management movement gave great impetus to
the study of public administration.
The gradual evolution of the concept of welfare state was de-
cisively shifted the philosophy of state function everywhere from
traditional laissez faire to that of social welfare. The welfare move-
ment has tremendously enlarged the scope of government functions
and public administration has become the chief instrument of social
welfare.
The movement of administrative reform which took place in the
early years of the 19th century in USA to look for remedies of the
then problems encountering the civil service. The impact of the re-
form movement permitted American Universities to popularize the
study of public administration.
 public administration 15

1.3 Politics and Public Administration

As already indicated above, Woodrow Wilson, the father of modem

public administration, considered politics and administration as sep-
arate processes and attempted to conceptually distinguish between
the two areas of study. A similar attempt was made by Frank God-
now, another exponent of the dichotomy approach who observed
that "politics has to do with policies or expressions of state while ad-
ministration has to do with the execution of these policies". This dis-
tinction is made between policy making and policy execution. Pol-
icy making is regarded as the realm of politics and execution as the
realm of public administration.
Further, politics and public administration are differentiated on
the basis of their institutional locations. The location of politics is
identified with the legislature and the higher echelons of govern-
ment where major policy-decisions would be made and the larger
questions of allocation of values decided upon, the location of ad-
ministration on the other hand is identified with the executive arm
of government-the bureaucracy. The processes of administration, it
was argued, have a certain regularity and concreteness about them,
which can be successfully investigated. Thus it is possible to de-
velop a science of administration . In a given sociopolitical system
(the way society is structured and functions) there are governments,
political parties, armies, administration, palaces, leaders, statesmen,
rallies in protest or support, election campaigns, polling stations and
voters, etc. All these, in their totality, are expressed by the term pol-
itics. Therefore, politics can be defined as cooperation and conflict
over the distribution of benefits and costs in society. In a practical
setting, politics has been called the "act of the possible" the "act of
governing" and the study of who gets what, when, and how. Politics
is concerned with the broad question of government in society. i.e.,
at the center of the politics, there is government use of its legal au-
thority to distribute benefits and costs among members of a society.
When a government carries out its functions it gives benefits to some
parts of the society and denies them to other. The government is
entrusted with the functions of establishing the values and priorities
by which society is run.
Politics affects administration in different ways. The point here
is that administrative officials are subject to the overall control of the
political executive (cabinet and ministries and the legislature (Parlia-
ment). This greatly affects the administrative process within public
organizations. They are also responsible for the administration of
policies and the activities of civil servants and other public officials
working under their control. Administrators constitute the civil ser-
vant and the administrative executive branch.
They are responsible for policy implementation. They report to
the political executives. This means that the administration of the
country is held accountable to the electorate through its politically
elected heads.
16 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

From the above points, we can see that public administrators

should know the relationship between politics and public admin-
istration. Administrators are career officials (civil servants) and are
not expected to be involved in partisan politics or exercise their own
individual political interest within their office. Politicians, on the
other hand, are interested in policy making and realizing the inter-
est of the electorate. They give the order to the administration and
control their work. Therefore, it is sometimes difficult to differentiate
politics from administration. It is important to recognize the interre-
lationship between politics and administration. This is because pol-
icy implantation and policy formulation are highly interrelated. The
policies developed by politicians are implemented by administrators.

Reflect
• What is administration? What is public administration?

• What are the major explanatory factors for the evolution of

public administration?

• What are the differences and relationships between politics

and public administration?

1.4 Characteristics of Public Administration

When several definitions are taken into consideration, it is possible

to identify public administration as having the following character-
istics:

1. It can be identified with the executive branch of government, but

this does not rule out the fact that public administration is also
related in important ways to the legislative and judicial branches

2. It is identified with the formulation and implementation of pub-

lic policies, and thus, it is closely associated with private groups
and individuals. In this sense, public administration is concerned
with the major goals of the society and with the development of
resources for achieving those goals within the context of a rapidly
changing political environment;

3. It is identified with human behavior and cooperative group ef-

fort;

4. It is identified with the production of public goods or services;

5. It is identified by Promoting "public-ness" - public administration

has to be explicitly "public" in terms of democratic values, power-
sharing and openness

6. It is a field of study that can be differentiated in several ways from

private administration

Other areas of concerns of public administration include:

 public administration 17

• Policy sensitivity: it is identified by the innovative and timely

policy formulation which necessitates a new preparedness within
the administrative set-up.

• Implementation Capability - effective policy implementation is

going to test the coping capacity of the government in today’s
complex situations. Goals have to be clearly set; planning, pro-
gramming and projections have to be followed step by step; and
project management in all its ramifications has to have top priority
in government.

• Shared understanding of social reality: in today’s complex ad-

ministrative world, construction of administrative reality has to be
based on understanding the diverse interests shared understand-
ing of its actors such as the women/men at the top, the middle
managers, the employees and the citizens. The centralized, insu-
lar bureaucracy does not fit in with the contemporaneous socio-
administrative reality.

• Administration as a learning experience: we cannot work with

rusted "principles" of the past or the administrative recipes of yes-
terday to solve current problem. Public administration in modern
times has to be proactive, more adaptable to changes, more open
to new insights, innovative, risk-taking, and often adventurous
and has to be learning organization.

• POSDCoRB, summed up by Gullick, denotes Planning, Organi-

zation, Staffing, Directing, Coordinating reporting the Budgeting.
The word Planning means the working out in broad outline the
things to be done, the methods to be adopted to accomplish the
purpose. Organization means the establishment of the formal
structure of authority through which the work is sub-divided, ar-
ranged, defined and coordinated. Staffing means the recruitment
and training of the personnel and their conditions of work. Direct-
ing means making decisions and issuing orders and instructions.
Coordinating means inter-relating the work of various divisions,
sections and other parts of the organization. Reporting means in-
forming the superiors within the agency to whom the executive
is responsible about what is going on. Budgeting means fiscal
planning, control and accounting.

1.5 Pillars of Public Administration

The field of public administration rests upon certain principles that

have been discussed among scholars and practitioners for some time.
These central principles or values are often referred to as the three
E’s or the three pillars of public administration: efficiency, effec-
tiveness and economy. Briefly, efficiency refers to the utilization of
resources and involves the relationship between inputs and outputs.
Effectiveness deals with the extent to which the agency achieves the
goals or objectives of the organization or program. Lastly, economy
18 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

means acquiring resources at the lowest cost while maintaining the

objectives of the organization or agency (Akram Kahn, 1988). Many
have argued that the fourth pillar stands for equity or social equity
(Frederickson, 1990; Nalbandian, 1990; Wooldridge, 1998; Svara and
Brunet, 2004). This disconnect seems to be representative of the fact
that social equity is indeed a concept central to the ideals of public
administration and needs to be among the pillars or main values of
the field. Schafritz and Russell (1997) define social equity as equal
treatment by the political system or fairness in delivering public ser-
vices.
The concept of social equity is extremely relevant to the field of
public administration for a variety of reasons. To begin, justice, fair-
ness and equality are central issues in public administration. First,
implementation of the law is the work of public administrators and
is the reason the field is often said to be the "law in action". Sec-
ond, the law is rarely so clear and precise that it can uniformly be
applied from case to case. Third, if public administration is the law
in action, then it inevitably requires interpretation and discretion in
its applications. "Fourth, our public institutions are the settings in
which our elected leaders, working in our system of democratic self-
government, struggle with issues of fairness, justice, and equality"
(National Academy of Public Administration, 2000).

Reflect
• What are the major characteristics and pillars of public admin-
istration?

• What are the implications of these pillars and characteristics

of public administration for contemporary public administra-
tors?

1.6 Distinction between Public and Private Administration

As earlier observed, the "management" euphoria at one stage led to

a blurring of distinction between public and private administration.
The distinction between the public and the private sector is however,
greatly influenced by the political philosophy of each nation. In the
USA, for instance, the private sector plays a very important role in
the American economy and society. The public sector is in many
ways dependent on the private sector for the supply of goods and
services. But in developing countries like Ethiopia the private sector
is too weak to assume such a responsibility.
Considerations of general welfare should be the common concern
of both public and business administration. Private management
can ignore the larger public interest only at its peril. At the other
end, public administration can hardly ignore the needs of efficient
management. Yet, the two types are basically different, as discussed
below:
 public administration 19

• The major purpose of public administration is to serve the public;

hence general welfare and, in specific cases, public satisfactions
are the ends that public administration must serve. By contrast,
business administration is basically oriented toward earning profit
for the business proprietors. Inability to earn profit will soon drive
a private enterprise out of business.

• Public administration has to operate strictly according to law, rules

and a regulation. Adherence to law brings in a degree of rigidity
of operation in the public sector. There is always the fear of audit
or accountability that acts as a constraint on performance. On the
contrary business administration is relatively free from such con-
straints of law and regulations. There are of course general laws
regulating business, but individual business firms have consider-
able flexibility to adapt their operations to changing situations.
This is possible because of their relative freedom from specific
laws and rules that abound in public administration

• The actions of public administration are much more exposed to

the public gaze. An achievement rarely gets publicity, but a lit-
tle fault hits the newspaper headline organizations like the police
have to be on their toes to make sure that their operations do not
incur the public wrath. This wide publicity is not to be found in
business administration. Nor is it so very closely watched by the
public and the media.

• In public administration, any show of discrimination or partial-

ity will evoke public censure or legislative commotion. Hence,
the administrators are to be very consistent and impartial in their
dealings with the public. In business administration, discrimina-
tion is freely practiced due to competitive demands. In the choice
of products and in fixing prices, business administration overtly
practices discrimination which is almost a part of business culture.

• Public administration, especially at higher levels of government,

is exceedingly complex. There are many pulls and pressures,
many minds have to meet and discuss, consultations go on in sev-
eral rounds of meetings before decisions are taken. Activities in
one department have ramifications that spread over several other
departments. By contrast, business administration is, generally
speaking, much more well-knit and single minded in operation.
There is much less complexity in organization and operations. The
pressures are certainly almost non-existent.

• Public administration as organization is thus much more complex

compared to business or private organization. Any unit of gov-
ernment administration is tied up with a network of allied public
organizations and has to work in close interaction with them. A
private organization by contrast, has more compactness, insularity
and autonomy of action.
20 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

• Public administration has overarching responsibilities in terms of

nation-building, and shaping the future society. It is therefore,
much more value oriented. Business organizations have to follow
the guidelines laid down by the public authorities.

To explain in a more detail, the following are also basic difference

between public and private administration:

Environment: The foremost feature which distinguishes public

administration from private administration lies in the environment
within which the former necessarily functions. Public administration
inevitably operates within political environment. It is the political
context of public administration which makes it necessary for it to
lie down and adhere to elaborate rules and regulation and comply
with time-consuming procedures. Private administration decided
the course of action on the basis of cost-benefits analysis at least,
this is the belief-but in public administration the ultimate test is po-
litical. This is how the government remains close to the people and
citizens get maximum satisfaction.

Nature of Functions: However, big and diversified, no private

organization can match public administration in the range, variety
and scale of function. No private sector organization can boast of
managing such a vast range of function. The task to be undertaken
by public administration is also very complex in nature. Take the
case of rural development. Rural development programs being taken
up by the government entail so many variables; and no private sector
organization may even nearly match them in terms of their complex-
ity. According to Felix A. Negro, its real core is "the basic service
which is performed for the public, such as police and fire protec-
tion, public works, education, recreation, sanitation, social security,
agricultural research, national defenses, and other. It is for this very
reason that the field of public administration is so broad, because
each of these services arises out of different needs which press them-
selves upon individuals in modern society. "

Accountability: There is conspicuous emphasis on accountability

in public administration than in private administration. This feature,
indeed, follows from the political environments subject to public con-
trol and scrutiny. Such awareness makes it necessary for the govern-
ment to keep elaborate records of all its decision-making. As the
government has necessarily to justify its action before parliamentary
committees and other bodies which may be set up to scrutinize pub-
lic action this induces a certain behavioral pattern among public per-
sonnel a tendency, for instance, to become more procedure-minded
rather than more goal-oriented. In the words of Appleby, "Govern-
ment administration differs from all other administrative work by
virtue of its public nature, the way in which it is subject to public
scrutiny and outcry." But private administration does not have any
such responsibility towards the public.
 public administration 21

Efficiency: Public administration is less efficient than private ad-

ministration. In the case of private administration, the criterion of
efficiency is simple and universally accepted. It is profit. On the
other hand; it is difficult to evaluate efficiency in a government or-
ganization. Generally, governmental organizations do not work for
profit: they are engaged in non-profit activities. They, for instance
take up service functions to perform promotional, developmental or
regulatory tasks where it is difficult to evaluate efficiency. The ab-
sence of a balance-sheet in government and quasi-government orga-
nizations tends to make public personnel unresponsive to the logic of
efficiency and economy. So, the basic aim of governmental activities
is not to maximize profit, but to promote community welfare.

Legal Safeguards: Public administration is less efficient than pri-

vate administration functions strictly in accordance with legal safe-
guards. This implies that the government official, much more so
than his private counterpart, operate within a framework of general
and specific laws limiting his freedom of individual action. His work
must conform to special laws operating in the country, all the poli-
ties and instructions of higher authorities, prevailing customs and
general public relations requirements.

Service and Cost: In public administration, there is an intimate

relationship between the service rendered and the cost of service
charged from the public. Here expenditure exceeds income. On the
other hand, in private administrative income often extras expendi-
ture, otherwise there would be no profit.

Consistency of Treatment: Public administration should be con-

sistent in procedure and uniform in dealing with the public. It cannot
accord preferential treatment of some segments of the community to
the exclusion of others. Private administration can and very often
does practice discrimination in selling its services.

Anonymity: The public official bears the impress of anonymity. He

acts in his official capacity, and is protected from harm or criticism
by the well-known convention of ministerial responsibility for all his
acts so performed.

External Financial Control: Public administration is subjected

to external financial control. It is the legislature that passes the accep-
tance, authorizing the executive branch to spend money. The latter
cannot collect or spend money on its own will. There is, thus, a di-
vorce between administration and finance, this kind of separation is
absent in private administration.

Monopoly: Many activities of public administration are monopolis-

tic in nature; and absence of competition has endowed it with many
special features.
22 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

Social Prestige: It may be pointed out that the public administra-

tion carries, perhaps, a great social prestige than his private counter-
part. This is because of the greater opportunity of serving the people
that the public service offers. Indeed, service to the community be-
ing the fundamentals urge characterizing public administration; the
latter needs people having ability and willingness to promote and
protect public interest.

Personnel Practices: The personnel practices in the government

are elaborate and rigid, and are even designed to serve multiple
goals, thereby adding to the complexity of the task. In Ethiopia,
for instance, the public personnel practices are based on merit and
treat disadvantaged sections in the society in a special manner. On
the other hand, private administration enjoys a much larger measure
of initiative and flexibility in regard to its personnel practices.

Wide Publicity: Actions and deeds of public administration are

exposed to the public notice to a degree which people in private
sector can never imagine to have. The media is ever interested in
getting even the smallest details about the public officials. Public
administrations verily operate within a glass house and its activities
are all open to the public.
In general, public administration has acquired certain distinctive
feature differentiating it form private administration. Public account-
ability is its hallmark; consistency of treatment is its watch-world;
and consciousness of community service, its ideal. Nevertheless,
public and private administrations are not two distinct entities. They
are two sides of the same coin. In a real sense, private administration
is itself a highly regulated administration nowadays; this regulation
stemming from a widespread urge to bring it in tune with the com-
munity’s professed ideals and ambitions.

Criteria Public Administration Private Administration

Purpose Serves the general public, welfare Serves private owner, profit

Mode of Operation According to the law, rules and regulations Relatively free and flexible to adopt

Control Continuous gaze by the public Not so by the public but by the owners

Public Relations Impartial and even handed (equal to all) Openly discriminatory (unequal)

Complex, many pulls and pressures, many

Involvements Well-knit and single minded operation
minds involved
Needs political direction at the core of public Needs less of that, profit is at the heart of
Politics
administration business administration
Table 1.1: The distinction be-
tween public administration
and private administration
 public administration 23

1.7 Environment of Public Administration

Public administration exists in a peculiar socioâĂŞeconomic, demo-

graphic, technological and political environment that affects its be-
havior and performance. All these have their own effects on the
administrative system of a given country or organization. Thus, pub-
lic administration has always to keep on with close scrutiny and be
aware of what is going on or what exists in both the internal and
external environment. The following is a brief description of the
environment of public administration classified as internal and ex-
ternal.

Internal environment refers to those conditions, which are in

most cases within the control of the administration, yet having their
own challenges and/or advantages. This may include the organiza-
tion itself and groups and individuals within the organization, the
material, financial, and other resources available for the organization
and so on.
The organizational structure and the pattern of authority in the
formal hierarchy, the purpose and tradition of the organization, his-
torical legacies or traditional practices of the administrative systems,
the internal network and working procedures have influences on the
administrative efficiency and effectiveness of a given organization or
country. The behavior and structure of formal and informal groups
like peer groups, labor unions, and advisory council have also strong
influence on the style of administration. The type and sufficiency of
materials, skills, knowledge, and finance are considered as environ-
mental factors internal to the organization, that highly determine the
administrative style and the accompanying success or failure of ad-
ministration.

External environment on the other hand is that, which is out-

side the control of the administration but having major impact in
shaping the features and determining the success or failures of the
overall objectives that public administration wants to achieve. The
external environment can be generalized as demographic, political,
economic, natural, social, technological and international forces,
each of which reflected in many ways. For example we can consider:

• Politically, the type of government and the resultant constitution,

policies, laws and directives; national and international political
trends and changes; bilateral and multilateral agreements and
policies. Public administrators operate in an intense and perva-
sive political atmosphere. This is natural since public administra-
tion is part and parcel of the political process. They must integrate
them with political considerations that are often unpredictable on
a day- to-day basis.

• Demographically, the size, density, location (geography), age, sex,

race, occupation and other statistical elements of the population.
24 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

For example, rapid population growth accompanied by a move-

ment from rural, agricultural areas to urban, industrial centers.
As a result of this, government faces the problems like inadequate
housing, air and water pollution, crimes, delinquency, prostitu-
tion, and so on.;

• Economically, national economic trends and level of growth and

development; the global market and economic situation as well as
the extent of mutual economic assistance and cooperation. The
environment also consist factors such as unemployment, mone-
tary, fiscal and tax policies, wages of employees, economic cycle
(business cycle), demand for goods, rate on inflation and like.

• Naturally, there has been increased public interest in environmen-

tal issues such as pollution, energy shortages, wasting of natural
resources. All these issues have affected administrative decisions
and organizational policies. Depletion of natural resources (land,
water, air, minerals, forest, animals and other raw materials) also,
affects the public service.

• Socially, population trends and changes; societal beliefs, values,

attitudes, cultures, and lifestyles; public expectations and demands;

• Technologically, ability or access to use the type of technology

being used elsewhere in the world, such as in communication and
production. The opportunity brought about by more recent tech-
nological development involving internet, automation, computers,
atomic energy, robotic and satellite communications

• Internationally, Organizations which operate in more than one

country face even more comprise environmental forces that char-
acterize any country. E.g. Oil policies of OPEC practically influ-
ence the operations of much organization in other countries which
depend on oil as their main source of energy, multinational busi-
ness firms. International law that regulates the relations between
states; The presence of global and continental organizations like
the UN, the OAU, etc; Other issues at international level like Eco-
nomic interdependence/integration, Religious institutions, Glob-
alization, Political tensions and armed conflicts, Interstate rela-
tions etc.

Reflect
• What major criteria are used to make distinction between pub-
lic and private administration?

• What are the external and internal factors that public admin-
istrators should know?

• Why is it important for public administrators to understand

 public administration 25

and analyze the external and internal factors? Which one do

you think is more important? Why?

1.8 Institutional setting of public administration

State, Government and Society: Public administration oper-

ates in a given state, run by a government and serves a defined
society. Society is a broad grouping of people who live in a com-
mon environment and have common traditions, institutions, activ-
ities and interests. In other words, society denotes the totality of
modes of human life, interactions, norms of behavior and underly-
ing structures. The state refers to a set of institutions that possess
the means of legitimate coercion, exercised over a defined territory
and its population or society. The state is composed of people living
together, a defined territory having an international recognition, a
government which is responsible for the administration of its people
and sovereignty. Government refers to the process of governing the
exercise of power. It often means the people who fill the positions of
authority in a state. In spoken language, government and state are
often used interchangeably.
Powers of government are often divided into three sets: legisla-
ture (whose role is to make the law); the executive (sometimes re-
ferred the government) which is responsible for implementing the
law; and the judiciary (responsible for applying and interpreting the
law).

The Government and its Machineries: National states are or-

ganized in many ways. In modern States, there is a definite polit-
ical Structure and certain government institutions namely an exec-
utive body, legislative body and judiciary. Such institutions are not
discrete units, their activities are interlocked in the whole political
process, but each has developed specific functions. This is usually
referred as the tripartite principles which refers to the existence of
three branches of government.

(a) Executive Branch

It is the branch of government that administers laws, and imple-
ments the rules of the legislators. It includes the political apex
such as: the president in the USA, Cabinet in the Great Britain
and Ministerial Council and other institutions under the super-
vision of Prime Minister (who make up the government). It is
one of the three branches of government and is charged with the
execution of the laws, foreign relations and direction of military
affairs, budget and personnel matters and the general supervi-
sion of public Administration. This branch functions through
executive department like ministers, commissions, agencies, au-
thorities and other institutions etc. This branch of government
26 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

includes both political executives and non-political (administra-

tive) executives (civil service).

• Political executives include those politically appointed minis-

ters and the prime minister.
• Non-political executives include those permanent public ser-
vants working in the bureaucracy.

Their major role is usually related with Ministerial leadership,

Departmental Management (co-ordination of the work of per-
manent executive), and Policy initiatives and policy decisions
within ministerial jurisdiction (they are concerned with policy-
making and policy execution).

(b) The Legislative Body

In many countries, the legislature is the body whose primary
role is to make laws based on the country’s constitution. This
body is usually the parliament, which could be bicameral (two
chambers) or unicameral (a single chamber). The legislature is
often the highest organ of power of the state.
Legitimacy
In a democratic political system, members of parliament are elected
in a free and fair context through the secret ballot. The members
are often candidates of political parties or organizations, but in-
dividuals also contend for a parliamentary seat. Those who win
the majority of the seats in parliament become the government of
the day; those who win the minority usually become the opposi-
tion. There are parliaments made up of handpicked members by
the heads of states or a ruling party. In this case, such assemblies
are criticized on grounds of legitimacy.
Parliamentary parties
In any given life of a parliament there can be several parties. If
two or more parties form a government, that is called a coalition
government. Such parties agree on the number of seats in cabinet
and the head of government. The definition of a parliamentary
party relates to the caucus or faction of party members elected
to parliaments. Examples of the legislature include: - The House
of Peoples Representatives of Ethiopia, U.S. Congress, and the
British Parliament, etc. Elected Representatives in Democracy-
whether members of a parliament, assembly, or congress are
there to serve the people they perform a number of roles es-
sential to the functioning of a healthy democracy.

• The principal forum for deliberating, debating, and passing

laws in a representative democracy
• Investigation of actions and decisions of government officials
• Approve national budgets
 public administration 27

• Conduct hearings on pressing issues, interest groups, political

parties, general public (electorate), etc
• It is a multipurpose institution whose purpose vary form sys-
tem to system
• Confirm executive appointees to courts and ministries.
• Legitimizing government policy
• Legislators may serve as a loyal political opposition that after
alternative policies and programs
• Legislators must work within the democratic ethic of toler-
ance, respect, and compromise to each agreement that will
benefit the general welfare of all the people. Not just their
political supporters
In a parliamentary government system, executive and legisla-
tive structures are so interlocked and policy processes so fused
that it is virtually impossible to differentiate their activities.
This is because the majority party in the legislature forms the
executive branch of the government, headed by a prime min-
ister. As a result, they are not entirely distinct form one an-
other, since the prime minister and members of the cabinet are
drawn from the parliament. In such systems the political op-
position service as achieve means of limiting, or checking the
authority of the executive. In a presidential system of govern-
ment the president is elected separately from the members of
the legislature and both the president and the legislature have
their own power bases and political constituencies, which ser-
vice to check and balance each other.

(c) The Judiciary

Independent and professional judges are the foundation of a fair,
impartial, and constitutionally guarantees system of courts of
law known as the judiciary. This independence does not im-
ply judges can make decisions based on personal preferences
but rather that they are agree, to make lawful decisions. Even
if these decisions contradict the government or powerful parties
involved in a case, in democracies, independence from political
pressures of elected officials and legislatures guarantees the im-
partiality of judges. Judicial rulings should be impartial, based
on the facts of a case, individual merits and legal arguments, and
relevant laws, without any restrictions or improper influence by
interested parties, these principles ensure equal legal protection
for all. The power of judges to review public laws and declare
them, in volition of the nation’s constitution serves as a funda-
mental check on potential government a base of powerâĂeâ ˛ Ăe˛
even if the government is elected by a popular majority.
A nation’s courts, however, are no more immune from pub-
lic commentary, scrutiny and criticism than other institutions.
Freedom of speech belongs to all Judges and their critics alike.
28 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

The administration of justice is one of the most august issues in

state administration. The judges like the doctors wear different
clothes, but it is the language and procedures that distinguish the
courts making them look more as bishops rather than profession-
als. The sum up, an independency judiciary assures people that
courts decisions will be based on the nation’s laws and consti-
tution, not on shifting political power or the pressures of a tem-
porary majority. Endowed with this independence, the judicial
system in a democracy, services as a safeguard of the people’s
right and freedoms. Institutional arrangements for the perfor-
mance of judicial function are much the same in very modern
stat. Most courts systems are established in a there level hier-
archy the trial courts in the local community a rank of regional
appeals courts, and an national supreme court to render final
judgment.

Reflect
• Who are the three bodies of the government?

• How do you explain their roles, duties, responsibilities and

power relationship?

1.9 Types, Forms and Systems of Government

1.9.1 Types of Government

There are three major types of government:
• Monarchy (rule by one person) is a type of government headed
by a hereditary, lifelong ruler. His power may be: Absolute; Lim-
ited by a constitution, or merely symbolic. In the latter case, gov-
ernment rests with the people (democratic) and is, notwithstand-
ing the monarchical form.

• Aristocracy (rule by an enlightened few) is a type of government

in a society with rigid class distinction. Aristocracy represents
the highest ranks and is largely identical with nobility. In some
communities, certain groups (few people) develop a somewhat
superior standing by virtue of their ancestry, long time residence,
wealth, contribution to business and industry, professional status.

• Democracy (rule by all the people) is a type of government with

majority rule i.e. a type of government in which the people rule,
either by directly or indirectly electing their representatives to
form a government on their behalf.

1.9.2 Forms of Government

There are three most commonly adopted forms of government in the
world:
 public administration 29

Monarchy Aristocracy Democracy

(rule by one person) (rule by the enlightened few) (rule by all the people)

Government headed by a hereditary, Government in a society with rigid class

Government with majority rule.
lifelong ruler. distinction.

Table 1.2: Types of Government

• Unitary forms of government (Unitarism): A government (state)

in which there is only one layer of government. It centralizes all
or most forms of power in one government (at central government
level). All authority to make laws is vested in one supreme leg-
islature whose jurisdiction covers the whole country. It directly
controls and heads regional and local administrations E.g. France
and UK. All regional states and local governments derive their
power and authority from the central government.

• A confederational form of government (Confederalism) is a league

or union of independent (sovereign) states for specified purposes
by the members of a confederation retain their sovereignty and
come under a common control for the performance of certain def-
inite functions. The right to secede is definite in a confederation,
unlike in a federation, where it is doubtful and vague. There is
balancing their individual laws and regulation within the con-
federation. Confederation may be chosen because of Economic
advantage- to gain comparative advantage, to avoid domination
by big/powerful nations and to challenge common enemies.

• Federal form of Government (Federalism) is a form of govern-

ment with the division of power between central and regional
governmental authorities. It is a union of state that has perma-
nently functioning central organs of power and administration
and acts as a single subject of international law. State forma-
tions that form a federation may have legal personality. Local
legislature is constitutionally guaranteed or led as a measure of
autonomous decision making authority. Federalism is a structure
of government that divides power between a central government
and regional (state) governments, with each having some inde-
pendent authority. Legally, local government has no independent
standing within the framework of federalism. Politically, however,
local governments frequently possess autonomy from the states
that created them. Characteristics of a federal system include a
separation of powers, in which neither partner owes its legal exis-
tence to the other, and a system of checks and balances, in which
neither partner can dictate the policy decisions of the other. This
type of balance results in a division of decision making power
between a semiautonomous central system and semiautonomous
state systems. Questions of federalism focused only on which
level of government should take which actions on specific policy
matters.
30 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

Unitary Federation Confederation

(Unitarism) (Federalism) (Confederalism)

Better to handle central and Responsibilities are clearly

Comparative
streamline national issues and demarcated between national and Allows regional diversity.
Advantage
problem efficiently. regional governments.

Bureaucracy problems to meet Without the existence of

Relative inability to execute
Comparative demands in remote areas.Difficult developed culture, problems may
national policies without a central
Disadvantage to implement policies uniformly emanate from ethnic, religion,
government.
throughout the notion. linguistic and economic diversity.

Table 1.3: Comparative advantage

for the three forms of government

Reflect
• What are the forms of governments and their distinctive fea-
tures?

• Why do nations select certain forms of government and ne-

glect others?

1.9.3 Systems of government

There are two systems of government in democratic society:
• Parliamentary system is a system that the majority party in the
legislature forms the executive branch of the government, headed
by a Prime Minister. The legislature and executive branches are
not entirely distinct from one another, since the prime minister
and members of cabinet are drawn from the parliament. A Prime
Minister may be the most powerful member of the executive, but
important decisions are often made collectively by the cabinet. In
such systems, the political opposition series as a chief means of
limiting or a checking the authority of the executives. E.g. Britain,
Ethiopia, India, United Kingdom.

• Presidential system is a system of government that, the president

is elected separately from the members of the legislature. In this
system the executive’s position is independent of the legislature.
Members of the executive are not normally members of the legis-
lature, and ultimate decision making authority within the execu-
tive lies with one person, the president. In a presidential system
both the president and the legislature have their own power bases
and political constituencies which serve to check and balance each
other. Examples are France and the USA.

1.10 Decentralization under the federal form of government

Decentralization refers to the transfer of legal, administrative, and po-

litical authority to make decisions and mange public functions from
 public administration 31

Systems of Government

Presidential Parliamentary

• The president is elected separately in direct • Majority party in the legislature forms the
election executive branch.
• The executive’s position is independent. • The executive branch is headed by a prime
• Decision making authority within the executive minister.
lies with the president. • The legislature and executive branches are not
• Separation of power and check and balance. separate.
• Weak party discipline. • Decisions are often made collectively by the
cabinet.
• Strong party discipline.

Figure 1.1: Systems of government

the central government to field originations of those agencies, sub-

ordinate units of government semiautonomous public corporations,
functional authorities, autonomous local governments, or non-gov-
ernmental organizations.
Decentralization has been undertaken for varied goals, those that
are cited must include:

• Organizational effectiveness is characterized by relatively high

levels of employee motivation and productivity smooth commu-
nication between various levels of organizational heavily partici-
pation in decision making by at lower hierarchical levels and in-
creased capacity to achieve organizational goals at reduced lost.

• Making public administration more responsive to the citizens:

A responsive public administration is one that is sensitive and
responsive to the needs and views of the citizens & whose per-
sonnel & programs represent their interests & serve their needs.
The administration’s close interaction with client groups are sols
considered important in a responsible & responsive bureaucracy
In decentralized system, government officials enclose contact with
the citizens, improve the government’s perception of client needs
and problems.

• Promotion of national development: Of the three goals, the as-

pect of decentralization for purpose of facilitating national devel-
opment by providing local self-government for its villages and
rural districts. The social services (school and roads) can only be
provided in adequate measure when local people have the power
and responsibility to tax them to pay for their own basic govern-
mental services.
32 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

Issues Parliamentary System Presidential System

For the party instead of the individual.

Members of legislature are not beholder to their
Voting The candidate has not his own position rather it
parties at all times.
is the party’s position.

Relatively inflexible because every party

More flexible (easy to pass laws) because the
Efficiency member may oppose their parties proposal as
government is composed to the majority seats.
regard to pass laws.

Members of legislature may cross party-lines

The public is relatively assured to get what it had
Party Performance after election and vote with the opposition party
been promised.
after promises had been given to the public.

Stability More unstable Relatively stable

Members of parliament wear two hats; they are

There is strong basis for check and balance on
Separation of Powers both legislatives and executives, therefore, the
every level of government.
power of each branch is unchecked in each case.

Table 1.4: Comparision between par-

liamentary and presidential systems

1.10.1 Forms of Decentralization

We can differientiate between the following forms of decentralisa-
tion:

• Devolution (Political or Democratic Decentralization)

It is the creation or strengthening, financially or legally, of sub-
national units of government, the activities of which are substan-
tially outside the direct control of the central government. Federal
political systems usually devolve power from states to local gov-
ernments but the federations evolve from the shared responsibil-
ities and common destinies of the member states. Unitary states
can only devolve power and resources in a limited way. This is the
more extreme form of transfer of governmental power and author-
ity to local units outside the central governments control. Ideally
devolution should have certain basic characteristics that include:

– Granting of autonomy and independent from the center, as well

as having the local units outside the central government’s direct
control.
– The local units ought to have clear and legally recognized ge-
ographical boundaries over which they exercise authority and
within which they perform public functions
– The local governments provide services that satisfy public needs
and remain subject to the people’s control, direction and influ-
ence
– Devolution does not imply federation; the local units remain
linked to the central government and with other units in the
political system through arrangements of mutual support.
 public administration 33

Devolution tends to be seen as a form of decentralization, in which

local government units are given responsibility for some functions,
but in which the central government after retains some supervisor
powers and may play a large part in financing.

• De-concentration (Bureaucratic Decentralization)

It is the handing over of some amount of administrative authority
or responsibility to lower levels within central government min-
istries and agencies. De-concentration is a form of decentraliza-
tion that involves only a minimum power transfer. It entails the
shifting of work load from the central government ministry or de-
partment headquarters to offices outside the headquarters. This
may, on the one hand, merely involve the shifting of work load on
an ad hoc basis without shifting authority to decide on how those
delegated functions are to be performed. On the other hand, it
may be possible to have a greater degree of decentralization by
formalizing the system of field administration with decision mak-
ing discretion given to staff based in the field, allowing them the
latitude to plan, make decisions, and to adjust the implementation
of central directives to local conditions, within broad guidelines
set by the center.

• Delegation
This is the transfer of managerial responsibility for specifically de-
fined functions to organizations that are outside the bureaucracy
and only indirectly controlled by the central government

• Delegation This is the shifting of public functions from govern-

ment to voluntary, private or non-governmental institutions. It
could take various forms including full privatization, contracting
out, outsourcing and public private partnership.

Deconcentration Delegation Devolution Divestment/Privatisation

Shifting responsibilities to Shifting fiscal powers and

Shifting decision-making semi-autonomous decision-making to
Shifting public functions
power to central government government bodies or NGOs subnational governments in
from government to
officials located outside the ultimately fully accountable which subnational
voluntary, private or non-
capital, fully accountable to to the center (service governments are granted
governmental institutions.
the centre. agencies, housing authorities, substantive decision-making
school districts etc.) authority.

Table 1.5: Major forms of decentralisa-

tion

To sum up, decentralization is the delegation of power and authority

to lower ranking organizational units so that they can make deci-
sions. The degree of decentralization depends on the following three
characteristics of the decisions made at lower levels of the organiza-
tion:
• Frequency of decisions the greater the frequency of decisions
made at lower levels of an organization, the greater the degree
of decentralization in that organization.
34 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

• Breadth of decision the broader the scope of decisions made at

lower levels of an organization, the greater the degree of decen-
tralization.

• Extent of control over Decisions the extent of controls exercised

over the decisions made at lower levels of an organization is an
important measure of the degree of decentralization.

Example

E.g. An organization that permits a sales manager to approve

customer credit up to Birr 10,000 is much more decentralized,
other things being equal, than the organization that permits ap-
proval by the sales manager of only Birr 2000 credit.

In conclusion, decentralization is the transfer of at least three things:

(1) power and authority, (2) resources, and (3) functions and responsibili-
ties from higher levels of government to the lower units.

1.10.2 Advantages of Decentralization

• Allows for more rapid decision making

• Allows for the development of professional managers

• Allows for the effective use of top- management resources

• Realizes the anticipative management process in the organization

• Creates a competitive environment among the decentralized units

• Allows for improved controls and performance measurements

• Local needs and problems are best handled by local people who
are familiar with the local conditions.

The disadvantage of decentralization is that parochialism (local-

ism) may prevent the necessary relations between central and local
governments.

Local Government Administration: Local government is a

part of government dealing with local matters concerning the res-
idents of a particular area. Local government undertakes its work
through local councils and financed by a mix of local taxes. Local
government is closer and accessible to every citizen since it is liter-
ally got in touch with. For example, local government administration
in Ethiopia includes: municipal administration, Woreda administra-
tion, Zonal administration. Local governments have the following
functions to carry out: rulemaking at the local level, rule application
at the local level, and rule- adjudication at the local level.

Rulemaking at the local level: The most common rule mak-

ing body at the local level is the elected boards or councils. These
 public administration 35

local legislative bodies normally make rules (commonly referred to

as ordinances) that apply to the local matters over which the central
government has delegated them the authority to rule. However, the
more common problem facing local legislative bodies is not how to
acquire more or broader rule making power but rather how to ac-
quire greater resources to finance the programs they could like to
carry out under the powers they already have. The tax base of local
government is always limited; the demands of citizens for local gov-
ernment response to their daily needs are not. Local communes con-
stantly seek new sources of revenue to finance programs that higher
levels of government have assigned to their domain.

Rule application at the local level: There are great varia-

tions in how local rules are carried out and by whom.
The chief executive at the local level may be a traditional chief
entitled to his post by his place in the kinship system. A manager
elected by the people or by the rule-making council; a city man-
ager hired by that council, or a civilian or military administrator ap-
pointed by the national government can lead local governments and
apply local rules. The powers of each of these executives (leaders)
may be extensive or merely ceremonial
The bureaucratic apparatus available for carrying out local rule
is similarly varied. Public service may be more or less personal,
more or less efficient more or less humanitarian. Bur, in all cases, the
problem of limited funds, limited powers, and unlimited demands
are likely to make them left.

Rule adjudication at the local level: No question of local

government is more sensitive than the resolution of disputes. For ex-
ample, when crimes are committed, when reputations are degraded,
or when contracts are violated, local governments must resolve these.
Whether or not that help will be available depends in large part
on the local judicial apparatus. Sometimes, the matter becomes too
weight for local level decisions or the decision seems unsatisfactory
and unfair to one of the parties. Every government provides some
way of liking local judicial functions to the national court system to
reduce such problems.

Reflect
• What is decentralization?

• What are the major forms of decentralization?

• Why has decentralization got much attention in this era of

public administration?

• What are the challenges of decentralization?

36 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

1.11 Public administration in developed versus in developing

countries

1.11.1 Public administration in developed countries

In the context of this note, the term "developed" or "industrial" soci-
eties refer to those countries of Western Europe and USA where in-
dustrialization has brought about major changes in economic struc-
ture and growth accompanied by political and administrative mod-
ernization. Nevertheless, it should be noted that administrative mod-
ernization is not a typical or exclusive feature of developed coun-
tries. Because some developed countries might not have modern ad-
ministrative system, while we could find a developing country that
employs modern administration. Despite individual differences, the
following are some of the important features of administrative sys-
tems of developed countries, as group that differentiate them from
the developing ones:

• Government organization is highly distinguished and functionally

specific and the roles are based on achievement criteria than on
attribute or assumed power. The bureaucracy is marked by a high
degree of specialization. Recruitment of personnel is generally
based on merits.

• Laws and political decisions are largely rational. Public policy

making is effectively made by professional public administrators.

• Administration has become to take all-encompassing functions

that affect major spheres of the lives of citizens.

• There is high correlation (association) between political power and

legitimacy (legality) and there is an extensive popular interest and
involvement in public affairs.

• Incumbents of political or governmental offices are generally con-

sidered as lawful or reasonable holders of those positions, and
transfer of power and positions tend to occur in accordance with
prescribed rules and procedures.

In summary, we can generally say that the nature of public ad-

ministration of these industrialized countries can be differentiated
from those of the developing ones in structure and function. Struc-
turally and functionally they tend to resemble to the Weberian model
of bureaucracy. The fact that bureaucracy in these countries exhibits
(demonstrate) high degree of professionalism in turn is the result of
various factors like educational background, career orientation and
standards of competence applied in recruitment to the public ser-
vice. Due to a relative stability of political systems in these societies,
bureaucracy is fully developed with fairly clear roles and practical
acceptance as an autonomous institution. In terms of function, bu-
reaucracy is primarily involved in rule application, but performing
secondary functions of rulemaking. Public administration in these
 public administration 37

countries is more responsive and responsible to the public; provides

efficient and effective public services; performs both routine and wel-
fare tasks. For such and many other reasons, citizens of the industrial
societies often view public administration as an impartial and expert
body of professionals intellectually equipped to cope with their ad-
ministrative needs. In theory, the tasks of public administration in
industrial societies do not differ from the developing ones where the
primary task of public administration is to implement public laws
and policies. However, empirical studies proved that features of an
administrative system highly relates to the environment they exist.
Therefore, the roles and challenges of public administration in devel-
oped countries have to be viewed in their particular socio-economic
and cultural context. For example, public administration in devel-
oped societies is extremely affected by the development of modern
science and technology, and communication networks. Relative au-
tonomy of institutions in developed countries has also its own (spe-
cial) administrative problems, reflected in terms of lack of coherence
among numerous service and regulatory organizations or agencies.
Generally, according to Rumki Basu (1994:43), developed countries
(especially in Europe) are typical examples of what is known as the
"administrative state"; and the bureaucracy in these states mainly
perform three types of functions:

• Regulatory and preventive functions, enforcing laws, collecting

revenue, and protecting the state against external aggression.

• Service functions, providing services like education, health, cul-

ture and recreation, social insurance, unemployment relief, hous-
ing, transportation, and communication.

• Entrepreneurial (commercial) functions, operating industrial en-

terprises, loaning funds and so forth in order to maintain or in-
crease economic growth and development of their respective soci-
eties.

1.11.2 Public administration in developing countries

Many of the developing countries have got their independence from
colonialists immediately after the Second World War. Despite a wide
range of differences in terms of the location, resources, history, cul-
ture, political systems, and development patterns of these countries,
they as a group can be called (characterized) as "developing". Most
of these new self-governing states have been in the process of tran-
sitions, facing serious problems of social turmoil and disturbances,
economic depression (downturn) and administrative chaos (confu-
sions). Yet, a great degree of reliance has been made on the stag-
gering state and bureaucracy for achieving developmental goals and
solving all sorts of social dilemmas and problems. These realities
have been seriously challenging public administration of developing
countries. The following points are indicative of general administra-
tive patterns currently found in developing (third world) countries.
38 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

1. The basic pattern of public administration is imitative (copied)

rather than indigenous (original). All developing (third world)
counties, including those that were not colonized have deliber-
ately tried to introduce some version or style of the bureaucratic
model of administration from developed countries, most notably
from colonial masters. Hence, it would be predictable for ex-
colonies to resemble in terms of their administrative pattern.

2. The bureaucracies are deficient (lacking) in the requisite skills

necessary for development programs. In spite of abundance (plenty)
of labor (employable manpower) in relation to other resources
in most of the developing countries, trained administrators with
management capacity, developmental skills, and technical profi-
ciency are extremely in shortfall.

3. Emphasis to non-productive orientations is another tendency (trend)

of the bureaucracies of these countries. Much bureaucratic activity
is channeled towards the realization of non-developmental goals.
According to Riggs, bureaucrats prefer to personal expediency or
convenience as against principled public interest. This in turn may
include practices like: non-merit considerations influence greatly
assignments, promotions, dismissals, and other personnel prac-
tices, widespread corruptions, using the public service as a sub-
stitute for a social security program, or to relieve the problem of
unemployment.Thus, there is always a surplus of employees in
the public services

• Extensive (huge) discrepancy or disagreement between form

and reality, which Riggs has called it "formalism", is another
distinguishing characteristic of administrative trends of devel-
oping countries. In other words, bureaucrats pretend as if they
make things they ought to be done while the reality tells dif-
ferent from what they say. They try to fill partially the gap
between expectation and reality by: enacting laws that cannot
be enforced, adopting personnel regulations that are peacefully
by-passed, announcing programs for delegation of administra-
tive authority while keeping tight control over decision-making
at the center, and reporting as if production targets are met,
which in fact remain only partially fulfilled

4. The bureaucracy in developing countries is likely to have high

degree of operational autonomy as a result of several operating
forces in newly independent states. These operating forces could
be factions created by colonialists within a given country, national
and international organizations etc. Political role of the bureau-
cracy in these countries vary significantly.

Regardless of the aforementioned limitations of the current ad-

ministrative patterns of developing countries, the immensity of the
developmental problems and the urgency to look for solutions have
thrust upon (or forced) the state to bear or shoulder the principal
 public administration 39

responsibility of achieving developmental goals. In other words, de-

spite sever handicaps like shortage of capital, skilled manpower, and
lack of developmental infrastructure that they inherited from colo-
nialists, the Third World governments are confronted with rising
expectations of the people they have to administer. Besides, Third
World governments have been expected to deal with curtailing so-
cial dislocations such as mass rural-urban migration, sever unem-
ployment, riots (social unrest) and community clashes. With such
challenges and confrontations, public administration still becomes
the main agency of socio-economic changes; changes not only in
terms of formulating and implementing long-term plans, but also
in the context of establishing modern institutions or organizations
equipped with the necessary skills.

Reflect
• What are the strengths of developed countries’ public admin-
istration?

• What are the drawbacks of developing countries’ public ad-

ministration?

• What lessons can developing countries learn from developed

countries in order to improve their public administration sys-
tem?

• How can these lessons be learned?

1.12 Public administration in Ethiopia

Ethiopia is a country characterized by an attempt to use the ap-

paratus of government to hasten socio-economic development, and
overcome deep rooted poverty. Ethiopia’s success in this regard is
reflected in the rapid socio-economic development, which cover im-
provements in social services like education and health, infrastruc-
ture like telecommunication, roads, power generation etc. All these
achievements, and many more, have been made possible, in part, by
the activities of the existing public administrations in the country.
Nevertheless much still remains to be accomplished. To understand
the development of public administration in Ethiopia, its genesis is
presented in three separate stages; early development, its develop-
ment in the Dergue era and current situation which covers the years
after 1991.

1.12.1 Early Development

Since the end of the Zemene Mesafint and the restoration of the
monarchy in the middle of the ninetieth century, modernization of
the country was one of the manifold functions of the Ethiopian kings.
Emperor Tewodros who emerged victor in the fratricidal and in-
ternecine war among the provincial nobles had a reformist tendency
40 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

in that he at least tried to accomplish two things in the process of cre-

ating modern administration. He made a start towards the creation
of a national army, under his command and receiving salaries from
the imperial treasury. Moreover, as he needed funds to maintain
his paid army he sought to curtail the privilege of tax exemption
enjoyed by the church since the time of Yikuno Amlak. Thus, he
tried to bring land reform. However, his attempt didn’t bear fruit as
he was opposed by different parties including the clergy. The man,
who replaced Tewodros in 1872 after a brief provincial contest, was
Yohannes IV. Unlike his predecessor, he was not known in reform
activity. With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the importance
of the Red Sea was restored and the run up for its control exacer-
bated. Emperor Yohannes was preoccupied with the appearance of
new dangers in the boarders of Ethiopia. This was the reason for
Yohannes’s lack of the reformist ambition of his predecessor. The
genesis of the "modern" civil service in Ethiopia dates back to 1907
when Menelik II initiated the formation of a few ministries with the
aim of lending an orderly and efficient arrangement to the work-
ings of government. In the subsequent years, the institution under-
went a series of changes commensurate with a host of new needs
and imperatives. The times of Menelik witnessed the introduction
of modern administration in Ethiopia. The first attempt was when
Menelik appointed nine ministers on October 25, 1907 to implement
the European way of administration (See table 1.6 on page 40).

Table 1.6: Ministers ap-

Name Position
pointed 1907 by Menelik

Afenigus Nesibu Minister of Justice

Fitawrari Habtegiorgis Minister of Defense

Likemekuas Ketema Minister of Interior

Negadras Hailegiorgis Minister of Trade and Foreign Affair

Bejrond Mulugeta Minister of Finance

Kentiba Woldetsadik Minister of Agriculture

Tsehafe Tizaz G/Sellasie Minister of Pen

Kegnazmach Mekonnen Minister of Public works

Azaj Metaferia Minister of Palace Administration

As members of the councils were Menelik’s principal lieutenants,

their transfer to the new post didn’t affect their status, functions
and mode of operations. Although the ministries of Education and
Telecommunications were included in the proclamation, appoint-
ment was not made in the portfolios. After this appointment, Mene-
 public administration 41

lik informed the foreign mission in Addis Ababa of the formation

of the council of minister. Then in a proclamation of appointment
which was issued at Jan Meda on October 25, 1907, he wrote to the
ministers certain guidelines which were to be considered as rules and
regulations. In his guideline, Menelik warned his minister against
taking bribes or committing any form of corruption. In connection
with this he promised to give salary to the ministers and urged them
to employ people who are diligent and sympathetic to the poor. The
ministers upon beginning their new assignment made a meeting and
passed decisions with regard to land, legal system and system of in-
heritance. Menelik also tried to change the then existing system of
appeal. The system of appeals at that time was such that people from
all corners of the country came to Addis Ababa to make an appeal
to one man - Afenigus. The number of appealants increased, people
were made to stay for up to six months without their cases being
resolved or decisions made. Seeing to this problem, right after the
appointment of ministers in 1907, Menelik made a division of the
country into six regions for the purpose of this legal practice. Two
judges and three secretaries were appointed for each region. In this
way the judges were hearing appeals in the court of Menelik.
Though the council of ministers continued to operate during the
early day of Empress Zewditu, it was weakened slowly due to the
power struggle between different factions in the country. Fitawrari
Habtegiorgis was the only person to remain in power because of this
struggle at that time. Because of this, it was decided that the day
to day affairs of the government was to be run by the empress, Ras
Teferi and Fitawrari Habtegiorgis. However, as the work load of run-
ning the daily affairs of the government was becoming heavy, an ad-
visory council was formed a year after the ministers were removed.
The advisory council had its own chairman, rules and regulations
and terms of reference. In fact, it is not known how long this advi-
sory council continued to survive. Later on, the ministerial system
was reconstituted and there were some ministers who were account-
able to Nigus Teferi. But there were no council of ministers till Teferi
became Emperor. Teferi’s accession to power as emperor brought the
attempt of Menelik to its strengthened position. Towards this end,
the emperor modernized the civil service by establishing more and
more schools, modernizing the legal system, the health system and
the administrative apparatus of the country. Legislation was issued
reforming the taxation system and the customs department was re-
organized. Following this many civil servants were hired, budget
allocated and built offices for each ministry. Ministries at this pe-
riod were given legal power through the country’s constitution. This
modernization effort of Emperor H/Selassie was interrupted by the
Italian invasion, which later continued after liberation. Ethiopia’s
public Administration, as is the case of most developing countries,
has assumed the role of prime mover in the process of promoting
sustainable human development. The Civil Service is the operational
arm of the government charged with the implementation and admin-
42 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

istration of public policy (Atkilt 1996: 55). Like its counterparts in

the rest of the world, the Ethiopian Civil Service undertakes similar
tasks.
Emperor Haile Selassie’s Government, noted for a number of ac-
complishments shouldered the burden of persevering with the in-
novation of his predecessor. The Emperor undertook a series of in-
stutionalization and restructuring measures in the hope of bringing
about an effective and efficient civil service governed by specified
rules and procedures of a uniform nature. This was a landmark
in the sense of creating an enabling environment to withstand the
effects of new challenges, which came to the fore as a result of mod-
ernization drives that took full swing after Haile Selassie’s return
from exile. Despite several Improvements regarding the operation
of government mediated by periodic reforms, the Ethiopian Civil
Service was fraught with problems that impeded the realization of
expected outcomes. It is worthy to note that Public Administration
under the monarchy suffered from irregularities that resulted from
the rampancy of several ills. These included, among others, crony-
ism, discretionary interventions, prevalence of political clientelism,
and the taking effect of individual and group interests to the detri-
ment of established rules and procedures.
Such malpractices militated against the smooth functioning of the
Civil Service thereby reducing its prowess to gear development en-
deavors in the desired direction. Faulty practices that pervaded the
modus operandi of the Public Administration realm incapacitated its
potential to serve as a locus for realizing socio-economic progress.
Growing public demands arising from exposure to aspects of mo-
dem life, increased awareness with regard to citizen entitlement and
rights, and the quest for equal opportunities to access political and
material resources and amenities, among others, necessitated mak-
ing the relevant adjustments with regard to the undertakings of the
public sector. Besides, the subsiding of traditional values and norms
in the face of advancements, driven by the expansion of modem ed-
ucation, adoption of new life styles and consumption patterns, etc.,
presented new challenges to be reckoned with. Failure to adhere to
established rules, unwarranted political interference affecting stan-
dard administrative procedures, and emphasizing political loyalty as
the major criterion for appointments and promotions.

1.12.2 Ethiopian Public Administration during the Dergue Era

The Imperial era, gave way to the Dergue/socialist system, which

was characterized by a concerted drive to radically redesign the ad-
ministrative machinery in line with the socialist/ central-planning
ideological ethos of the new government. The rule of the Dergue was
consequently marked by intensive mobilization and politicization
during the first few years of its incumbency. According to Mehret
and Paulos (2000: 11), the nationalization measures, along with the
proliferation of new government institutions and corporations led
 public administration 43

to a tremendous expansion of the public sector. The swiftness of

the transition, dictated by the imperatives of revolutionary transfor-
mation, did not allow the Civil Service adequate respites to ponder
on means and ways of adjusting to the new situation. The fluidity
of political developments marking the post-revolutionary years did
not enable the Civil Service prepare itself for effecting corresponding
changes. Deprived of the preliminaries necessary for smooth transi-
tion in terms of institutional, manpower and statutory adjustments,
the sector was, nonetheless, expected to cope with the burdens en-
tailed by its tremendous expansion. This constituted one of the most
formidable challenges that the Civil Service encountered.
The other dimension depicting the predicament of the agency
was that it was required to accommodate diverse claims and de-
mands triggered by the syndrome of extensive politicization, mobi-
lization, and (re) organization within the public realm. In the ab-
sence of pertinent changes, the Civil Service was required to expe-
dite the implementation of new decisions within the context of old
regulations. Moreover, the eviction of skilled and experienced top
and intermediate level officials and civil servants, and their replace-
ment with new recruits and political supplicants with a different
profile, compounded the predicaments of Public Administration. As
Mehret (1997) observed, the Dergue put the Civil service in disarray
by fusing the institutions of party, state and government. It also en-
couraged the proliferation of parallel structures by appointing party
functionaries to key decision-making civil service positions. Hence
duplication and fragmentation of public functions and the down-
playing of merit and professionalism became the order of the day.
The subsequent years characterized by the centralization of admin-
istration witnessed a situation where corruption, inefficient service
delivery and increased neglect of due process of law in matters of
public concern became a routine exercise. Given this bleak picture,
the perpetuation of the Dergue regime was partly jeopardized due
to its gross failure in delivering the "public good".
Upon assuming power in 1974, the Dergue decided to undertake
extensive reforms of the central administration. Rather than engage
in immediate, wholesale reorganization, the Dergue concentrated on
replacing career bureaucrats in the key ministries of interior, commu-
nity development, and justice. If the Dergue had purged the upper
echelons of the entire civil service after 1974, there would have been
insufficient numbers of educated, skilled, and experienced managers
to conduct the normal affairs of government. In general, the Dergue
allowed most bureaucrats who had served the emperor to remain at
their posts and appointed army officers to monitor their activities
in every ministry. At the same time, the Dergue attempted to re-
cruit into the civil service former high school and college students
who were then serving in the Zemecha (student campaign during
the beginning of the Dergue era). This group tended to be com-
mitted to revolutionary change, but it often lacked the bureaucratic
skills to achieve this goal. Moreover, although the campaigners gen-
44 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

erally favored the revolution, many opposed military rule, and once
in positions of authority they undermined rather than promoted the
regime’s goals.
Eventually, the Dergue required all civil servants and political ap-
pointees to undergo reeducation to acquire the proper socialist orien-
tation. Many civil servants, as well as military personnel, traveled to
the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Cuba for ideological training.
In the early days of the revolution, the central bureaucracy was char-
acterized by constant bickering among the various ministries and a
general lack of inter-ministerial coordination.

1.12.3 The Current Ethiopian Public Administration

Though Ethiopia has a long history of statehood, the civil service in
the country has only 100 years of age. This civil service was mainly
engaged on keeping peace and enforcing law and order in the coun-
try. Due to the low level of development through all these years, the
civil service hardly contributes in fighting poverty and backward-
ness. Basic legal frame works and regulation were developed in the
mid-1960s focusing on meritocracy and having a civil service with a
well-defined system, but it was not practiced and developed due to
the influence by the feudal system in the country. In fact, the Mili-
tary rulers who followed the feudal government further contributed
to the failure of the civil service as a system. The military govern-
ment has confiscated all private enterprises and has introduced a
centralized economic policy which affected the existing civil service.
During this time meritocracy was eroded, pay differences were min-
imized and pay increase was totally abandoned specially for profes-
sionals, and the civil service institutions were taken as a relief point
for the ever growing jobless citizens.
In fact this was a period when public institutions were led by
political cadres rather than professionals. Hence, the civil service has
changed itself totally from being customer focused to an entity that
only vanguard the economic and social systems established by the
military government. The whole picture of the civil service system
at that time had

• Poor structure, lack of skilled manpower and appropriate working

systems.

• Corrupted staff, officials and systems

• Took itself as a policy maker rather than implementer

• Centralized, inefficient and that was staffed by unmotivated

The Ethiopian people struggled for years to bring democratic po-

litical order based on the rule of law, equality among nation nation-
alities, social justice and poverty alleviation in the country. These
struggles mainly brought the 1974 revolution and 1991 regime change
in the country a great loss of life and bloodshed in the country’s his-
tory. The previous revolution led the country to a protracted civil
 public administration 45

war, which finally brought an end to the regime. Following the fall
of the Dergue regime in 1991, the different political groups who were
fighting the regime sat to craft the Transitional Charter of the country
which was followed by the 1994 Constitution.
Hence, the process of democratization began in the June 1991
Conference on Peace and Democracy which adopted a Transitional
Charter. Consequently, in December 1994 the Constitution of the
country was adopted. These two documents outline the Ethiopian
conception of good governance which includes the capabilities of
effective and efficient government and the basic orientation of a na-
tion state in terms of the government’s legitimacy, accountability to
the people, and securing of human rights. Against this background
changes in the form and direction of government of Ethiopia have
dictated a redefinition of policies and institutions relating to the or-
ganization of state and society, the constitution, the justice system,
participation of civil society, human rights and the management of
the economy.
The Transitional Charter set out the principle of an Ethiopian con-
ception of good governance which include the following;

• A commitment to a peaceful resolution of conflicts

• The recognition of the right of nations, nationalities and peoples

• Full respect of human rights

• Right to engage in unrestricted political activity and

• A commitment to holding national and local elections

The Charter further established an independent judiciary, laid the

ground to the government to commit itself to the formation of local
and regional councils and self determination of nations, national-
ities and peoples. Together with this press, public assembly and
demonstration, party registration and electoral laws were issued that
changed the practice of public administration in Ethiopia.
The adoption of the Ethiopian Constitution in December 1994
brought key changes how government is organized and operating.
Consequently, the constitution

• Reconstituted the Ethiopian state on a federal basis

• Institutionalized the sovereignty of the people as the ultimate source

of power

• Established a democratic system of government based on period-

ically held free and fair elections

• Established an independent judiciary

• Guarantee the protection of citizen’s basic human and democratic

rights, and

• Sovereignty and the right of self-determination of nations, nation-

alities and peoples of Ethiopia
46 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

• Gender equity

• Separation of state and religion

• Division of power between the federal and regional governments

etc

After the fall of the military regime in 1991, the new transitional
government has taken different measures to improve the whole eco-
nomic, social and political conditions of the country. The measures
include the transformation of the centralized economy to market
economy and devolution of political power to the regional states.
Measures were taken to change the organization and working sys-
tem of executive agencies. In addition to these, efforts were made to
evaluate and revise the efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, pay
and benefit, training policies and program concerning the civil ser-
vice. The aim of the late effort was to improve the efficiency and
effectiveness of the civil servants through an appropriate system and
procedures. In overhauling the civil service the federal government
has established a task force that evaluates the civil service in the
country. The task force has worked with federal and regional state
organizations head, intellectual and the public in finding out ma-
jor problems. In addition to this, it critically assesses proclamation,
regulations and guidelines that were used by the civil service.
After the overall evaluation of government services by the task
force and the identification of major problems, the government has
designed and introduced the civil service reform program. Follow-
ing orientation and the articulation of sub programs, institutions has
started evaluating themselves by assessing citizen’s satisfaction over
the services provided to them by their employees
Based on the finding by the task force, nationwide civil service
reform programs with five major components were designed. The
major aim of the program was to renovate the backward government
civil service delivery into an efficient, effective, transparent and ac-
countable civil service that can implement the policy of an elected
government. While designing the reform program, the government
envisions that the civil service in the country will be transparent, re-
sponsive, accountable, ethical, and free of corruption that enhance
the economic and social development of the country. Though the re-
form focuses on the action arm of the government executive branch
it was an all rounded task which covers all the branches of the gov-
ernment.

Reflect
• How do you analyze the historical development of public ad-
ministration in Ethiopia?

• What is your observation of the current development of Ethio-

pian public administration compared with the previous regimes?
 public administration 47

1.13 Public Administration and Local Government in Ethiopia

There is growing consensus that sustainable development cannot be

achieved without concerted efforts at the local level. It starts from the
premise that local development is an important driver of a country’s
progress towards achieving its development priorities. Currently the
Ethiopian government is doing its level best to invigorate the local
community engagement in the development endeavor of their com-
munity through decentralization.
The Federal government structure consists of nine regional gov-
ernments and two city administration having lower administrative
tiers at woreda (district) and kebele (community) levels. It is recog-
nized that low capacity is a major constraint for the full implemen-
tation of decentralization and good governance; especially at kebele
level in the country. Like the government arrangement at the federal
level, regions do have their own executive, legislative and judiciary
branch of government which goes down to zone, woreda and kebele
level. The devolution of power to the lower level of administration is
done to enable citizen’s exercise their constitutional power and expe-
dite development and good governance endeavor by the people for
the people. This effort is an endeavor of the government to move
towards decentralized governance - in which economic, political and
administrative power, authority and resources are transferred from
the center to lower levels of governance - "the processes and institu-
tions through which citizens and groups exercise their legal rights,
meet their obligations and mediate their differences. In other words
decentralization refers to the restructuring of authority so that there
is a system of co-responsibility between institutions of governance at
the central, regional and local levels. Based on this principle, func-
tions or tasks are transferred to the lowest institutional or social level
that is capable (potentially capable) of completing them."
Civil services at all levels of government need a capable, moti-
vated, and efficient staff in order to deliver quality services to its
citizens. When civil service functions and structures are decentral-
ized, existing bureaucratic patterns must be reorganized as roles and
accountability are shifted. Decentralization thus intensifies the need
for capable staff and increases the importance of capacity-building
programs in Ethiopian context.
The process of decentralization exhibits the following features:

1. Disperses power, both geographically and institutionally: Decen-

tralization inevitably changes the location of power and jobs. Move-
ment geographically or across tiers of government is often im-
peded by issues related to statute, prestige and poor labor mobil-
ity and now these conditions are questioned.

2. Creates new responsibilities for inexperienced actors: Though it

creates more opportunities for local autonomy and responsiveness
to more specialized constituencies, it also gives sub-national gov-
ernments more room to fail if specific steps are not taken to build
48 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

local technical and managerial capacity.

3. Can disperse scale economies/expertise groups: The need for spe-

cialized personnel is related in part to the size of the territory cov-
ered by the entity. Below a certain size, it might be counterproduc-
tive or cost inefficient to have specialists or technical personnel.
There are methods which can be used to address this issue, one
of which is to allow in the context of the decentralization schemes
the possibility of empowering local self-governments units to form
associations and pool their resources in order to cover activities re-
quiring specialized personnel.

4. Introduces more levels into the state: Decentralization, especially

political decentralization creates a class of government workers
which, based on the specific information which they receive (feed-
back from their constituencies) may have different preferences
than workers at the next higher level. This divergence in views
and convictions can create conflict within the civil service that
will require mechanisms to manage effectively.

5. Creates a tension between local autonomy and national standards:

Decentralization relaxes national control and creates the potential
for more regional variation in civil service conditions. Some room
for variation allows regions the flexibility to hire a civil service that
matches a community’s needs and budget constraints. National
salary, eligibility, and performance standards can ensure consis-
tent quality, but they can also lead to personnel expenditures (es-
pecially for locally administered education and health sectors) be-
yond some local capacities; grant transfer systems will need to
take different financing capacities into account in these and other
types of mandated expenditures.

6. Can increase administrative costs: Creating additional layers of

government is an expensive proposition, and while the central
government - in the best of cases- might reduce its role and shed
personnel in the context of decentralization, empirical evidence
suggests that these workers are often reabsorbed by local govern-
ments. There is thus no net change in public sector employment.

1.14 Public Administration and Local Government in Ethiopia

Public administration is a continuous process in all States. In this

sense, it is always undergoing reform. In developing countries in
particular, it must keep pace with the wider transformation processes
that are being attempted in society. Moreover, droughts, famine,
civil war and dramatic changes in leadership can all place additional
pressures on public administration in developing societies.
 public administration 49

1.14.1 Challenges of public administration reform

As Ethiopian public administration has had a short bureaucratic tra-
dition, there is very little in terms of precedents and institutional ex-
periences that the system can rely on in solving current governance
and development related problems. This is very much aggravated
by the decentralization process which transfers power to regions
and woredas where finding skilled manpower is a challenge. At
present, the shortage of skilled manpower adversely affects the role
of public administration in Ethiopia. Public administration needs
such personnel as specialist doctors, highly trained teachers, and
telecommunications’ experts, engineers of different specializations,
agronomists, veterinary doctors and myriad of other professionals
including managers for the effective execution of government poli-
cies and programs. Up until now most of these are not available in
enough quantity in the country and the net effect of this shortage is
low level of performance in public administrations.
Public administration in Ethiopia is challenging because of de-
manding situations to ensure development and good governance
across all administrative tiers. Ethiopian public administrations are
also adversely hampered by poor work ethics within them. Civil
servants do not take their public assignments as seriously as their
private responsibilities. Projects executed by the Road Authorities
across regions, telecom projects, and public construction works, huge
procurements can be taken as an example of weak performance in
the country. Though great improvement is witnessed in the last
few years, public money is being wasted in the federal as well as
regional states due to poor coordination among government insti-
tutions. High turnover within the public service affects the quality
and executing capability of the civil service in Ethiopia. Under the
circumstances, it is difficult to create a strong bureaucratic tradition
on the basis of continuity of activities and experiences.

1.14.2 Major issues that trigger continuous changes in public ad-

ministration of the country
The civil service is the machinery that governments rely on to de-
sign, formulate and implement its policies strategies and programs
and to discharge all routine government functions. Good govern-
ment is usually synonymous with an efficient and effective civil ser-
vice. Such a service promotes, through the political leadership, an
enabling environment for the social, political and economic develop-
ment of the country. Many factors explain the continuous process
of transition and change in public administration. The following are
issues that trigger continuous change in countries across the devel-
oping world including Ethiopia.

National values often change with the advent of independence

or new political leadership. As a consequence, public administration
systems formed in an earlier era for certain purposes may have to
50 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

be transformed to conform to and serve new values. For example,

Ethiopia is continuously modifying current administrative systems
to reflect an increasing emphasis on popular participation in public
affairs, the accountability of elected representatives and the state’s
responsibility for the welfare of its citizens.

Changing roles and functions of the State: As the role and

function of the state undergo change, so must administrative capabil-
ities. At one time administrative reforms were carried out to enhance
the centrality of the state in the national development process. Now
that greater emphasis is being placed on market-based economies
and the role of the private sector in economic growth and devel-
opment, public administration systems are undergoing reforms that
will increase opportunities for partnerships between the public sec-
tor and the private and non-governmental sectors.

Various environmental changes directly impact the nature of

demands made on public administration. For example, rapid pop-
ulation growth and burgeoning urbanization and industrialization
create dynamics which cannot be handled through traditional public
organizations, personnel or methods, and administrative capabilities
have to be upgraded and redistributed to meet new demands and
situations. Urban sprawl and its attendant high population densi-
ties may mean that planners and public officials have to devise new
ways to deliver health, sanitation and education. Similarly, heavy
concentrations of young persons in the population may mean that
new strategies have to be developed for dealing with unemployment
and crime issues.

Changing resource availabilities can necessitate adjustments

in administrative structures and practices.

Rigidities: Public organizations, personnel systems and manage-

ment practices typically evolve on an ad hoc basis developing both
positive and negative characteristics. Administrative reforms which
emphasize positive efforts, rationalization and coordination can fa-
cilitate the internal functioning of public administration and remove
the rigidities that often stall flexible administrative responses to emerg-
ing problems and new situations.

New technologies Administrative reforms are a way of taking

advantage of new technologies. For example, the introduction of
double-entry bookkeeping, new methods of cost accounting, new
management techniques or information technologies - all require or-
ganizational and procedural changes to exploit their technological
potential fully. The administrative reform process can be costly and
time-consuming when the desired result is a public administration
that is a genuine instrument of change. Some governments have
shown an enlightened degree of sensitivity towards administrative
 public administration 51

reform. Although analyses have revealed various weaknesses and

change programs have been known to produce unintended conse-
quences, governments have now generally recognized the need for
greater public-sector productivity.
In some instances, governments have been concerned that the dis-
covery of administrative weaknesses may be used by creditors or
donors as an excuse to deny assistance or to impose stringent condi-
tions on funding. This situation usually arises when countries have
lost the initiative and are responding to external pressures. The safe-
guard against these difficulties is not to shun reforms, but to keep
the initiative squarely with the national authorities.

Reflect
• What are the major derives and challenges of public adminis-
tration reforms in Ethiopia?

• What is your comment on the practices and implementations

of public administration reforms in Ethiopia?

Summary

The discussion in this unit composes two essential sections. The

first section of the unit is about the conceptual and theoreti-
cal perspectives of public administration. In this section of the
unit, several issues were addressed. First, Public administration
was comprehensively defined as a decision making, planning
the work to be done, formulating objectives and goals, work-
ing with the legislature and citizen organizations to gain pub-
lic support and funds for government programs, establishing
and revising organization, directing and supervising employ-
ees, providing leadership, communicating and receiving com-
munication, determining work methods and procedures, ap-
praising performance, exercising controls and other functions
performed by government executives and supervisors. Second,
the evolution of public administration was discussed based on
the expansion of expansion of government functions, expan-
sion of technological development, the movement of adminis-
trative reform, the emergence of welfare state, and the influence
of scientific management. Third, the dichotomy between poli-
tics and public administration was discussed emphasizing that
they are different on the basis of their institutional locations.
Fourth, the characteristics and pillars of public administration
were highlighted in this section. While the characteristic fea-
tures of public administration capture such issues as promotion
of public-ness, production and provision of public goods and
services, formulation and implementation of public policies, and
that it relates to the executive branch of government the pillars
52 ethiopian public administration, governance and ethics

of public administration deals with efficiency, effectiveness and

economy. Fifth, the major criteria upon which the distinction
between the public and the private sector are made were ad-
dressed. This these criteria include purpose, discrimination or
partiality, complex, environment, nature of functions, account-
ability, efficiency, legal safeguards, service and cost, consistency
of treatment, anonymity, external financial control, monopoly,
social prestige, wide publicity, personnel practices mode of op-
eration, and pattern of control. Six, the environment of public
administration and the importance of dealing with these internal
and external environmental factors are discussed in this section
of the unit. External factors such as political, economic, legal
social, demographic factors and internal environments includ-
ing the structure, organizational culture, policies, employees etc.
are discussed. Seventh, this section of the unit explored the in-
stitutional setting of public administration focusing on the three
bodies of the government, namely the executive, the legislative
and the judiciary bodies. It also addresses the roles, duties and
responsibilities as well as power relationship between these bod-
ies. In addition, a comparison between various forms of govern-
ment such as monarchy, aristocracy and democracy; types of
government such as unitary, confederation and federalism; and
systems of government such as parliamentary and presidential
governments were compared and analyzed. The importance and
rationales and typologies of decentralization including devolu-
tion, delegation, de-concentration, and divestment were dealt
with under the same section. The second part of the unit focuses
on public administration in Ethiopia. It attempts to present the
historical development of public administration in Ethiopia by
giving special attention to the current public administration and
its reforms in the country.

Self-evaluation
• Explain the dichotomies of politics and public administration.

• Describe the major differences between public and private ad-

ministration.

• Explain the major pillars of public administration

• Discuss the institutional settings of public administration.

• Discuss the distinctive features of public administration in

developed and developing countries.

• Describe the historical development of Ethiopian public ad-

ministration.

• Discuss the major administrative reforms conducted in Ethiopia.

 public administration 53

• Discuss the challenges of continuous growth in size and com-

plexity of Government activities?