In spite of the African program and numerous subsequent reform efforts,
efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, and responsiveness were not gained. If anything,
the efforts proved inappropriate, inadequate, and uneconomic as the governments took on
much more than what they could handle, while a dismal economic performance made
worse the already dire administrative conditions. As a result, the post-independence
administrative systems of both countries have been characterized by a bloated civil
service, inadequate administrative capacity, limited financial and administrative
resources, and a fragile political environment. The 1990s reform efforts were aimed at
rectifying these problems. Individually, however, the administrative systems in the two
states have faced and have been shaped by differing circumstances. While Uganda’s administrative system has been afflicted with many problematic colonial legacies and
post-colonial failures common to most African countries, it has had a very deeply
troubled and unique political and economic context that exacerbated the administrative pathologies.