The Impact of Political Interference in Decision Making on The Performance of Local Government Authorities (LGAS) in Tanzania: Case of Temeke Municipal Council in Tanzania

This study assesses the impact of political interferences in decision-making on the performance of one local government authority in Tanzania, Temeke Municipal Council. Specifically, this research had two aims: the first one was to identify areas where political interference occurred most and the second was to assess the impact of political interferences on the social services delivery performance. In pursuit of the Wilson’s Orthodox theory in realization of classical models, this study adopted a case study research design and quantitative research approach. The study population was 358, comprising administrators and politicians. A simple random sampling method was used to select 97 administrators in the sample, while a purposive sampling method was used to select 1 Director and 91 politicians in the sample of 189 respondents. The data was collected through questionnaires and analysed quantitatively using descriptive analysis, Pearson’s Correlation and multiple regression analyses with the help of SPSS software. The study found that the political interference was statistically significant (with p ≤ 0.05) in hiring of technical experts, revenue collection & expenditure together with developing social services, and taking disciplinary measures. The research also found that the political interference in the decisions of local government namely budgeting and budget allocation, revenue collection and expenditure, developing social services, taking disciplinary measures, and reporting positively influence social service delivery at the Municipality. There were exceptions when it comes to the political interference in the hiring of technical experts as the results show that it negatively affects the social service delivery of the local government. The research concluded that the interference or rather the interaction between the politicians and administrators in the local governments should be guided by laws so as to tap the benefits which lead to the advancement of Temeke Municipality.