RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PEOPLE’S PARTI

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PEOPLE’S PARTICIPATION AND GOOD GOVERNANCE
The four major elements of good governance such as: accountability, transparency, people’s
participation and predictability, conceptually, tend to be mutually supportive, but people
participation is the central element amongst these (Rahman 2005). More clearly, a peopleparticipatory
government ensures more transparent, accountable and predictable governance
for its people. Manowong and Ogunlana, for example, argue that the concept of good
governance, ‘has to be not just pro-people or people-centred; it has to be owned by
people’(2006, p. 345). This argument thus recognizes that the level of good governance
increases through people’s heightened participation in development programs. JICA (1995)
reported that good governance is the foundation of participatory development inasmuch as it
provides the government roles needed to encourage participation and create the environment
in which people can participate effectively. Effective people’s participation enhances the
transparency of the development works, the accountability of the implementing authority, and
compliance with the local laws, which consequently establish good governance. The above
discussion thus indicates people’s participation and good governance are inseparable from
each other.