following characteristics:a given territory and population,an institutional structure a separate legal entity,a range of powers and functions authorised by delegation from the appropriate central or intermediate legislature and lastly within the ambit of such a delegation,autonomy subject always to the test of reasonableness (Whalen 1970:312).
we seek to achieve four things in a local government through the mechanism of local participation.First,the ordinary local citizen should feel that he is not just an inert subject of an arbitrary government far removed from him,but a person whose views must be considered since the local government belongs to him and the ruler exists for his benefit and not the other way round.second,the choice as to who rules them should be made by the local people themselves as they are likely to choose the one who cares for their interests.Third,the local ruler should bear in mind the need to be sensitive to the local needs and articulate their needs so that he may continue to enjoy their local support.Fourth,local participation should provide the momentum for faster development through the harnessing of local resources.None of these benefits can be attributed either to a nominated local government or to the bureaucracy representing a distant government.
Local government,though popular,may not always produce the results that the national leaders were hoping for.Elected councillors could be ignorant and self-seeking,lacking a sense of responsibility to their electors.They may usually concentrate on expanding the social services to the neglect of investment in productivity.The local government bureaucracy may be of poor quality,frequently losing control over their own accounting system.Local autonomy may lead to multiple frictions between the centre and the local body.But,even with these and other possible shortcomings,the mere existence of local democratic structures can be a contribution;people generally prefer them to direct administration,even where the elections only give power to existing local leaders.The central legislature in ant country,however popularly constituted,can never replace the local genius of the people as an agency for devising local solutions to local problems.Locally elected councils can exercise greater surveillance over local officials than that exercised by the central legislature over the central government officials.A World Bank study (Rondenelli et al.1984)มtherefore,concludes that 'guarded optimism on the utility of decentralisation in developing countries is justified.This conclusion is warranted by the number of cases in which small but clear-cut improvements have occurred as a result of decentralisation programs.