Abstract:
Effective Local Government education and health service delivery requires a sound
transparency system in place. However, the literature suggests that the absence of
effective transparency particularly in local government determines the quality of service
delivery. Therefore, this paper aims at exploring the functionality of transparency in
LGA service delivery; More specifically the paper aims to identify the openness and
honesty of local government officials, examine the citizen information accessibility and
assess the influence of open decision-making in LGAs services delivery. The cross
sectional research design was employed. The study involved 399 respondents from
villages and streets (Mtaa) including 15 key informants. Secondary data were obtained
from the villages and streets (Mtaa) meetings log books, council financial reports as
well as previous assembly meeting minutes. Quantitative data were analysed through
factor analysis and stereotype logistic regression mode while qualitative data were
analysed through content analysis. Unfortunately, the contribution of transparency to
LGAs services delivery is minimal. The results revealed that there was a negative
association between transparency and education and health service delivery. However,
this cannot deny the ordinal information, which revealed that a minor relationship exists
between the variables. The major concern for low transparency in LGAs might be the
inadequate chain of command in the Tanzania LGAs framework. Additionally, most
local government authorities in Tanzania use low-level technology. Thus, it is
recommended that the Regulatory framework should be adjusted to ensure LGAs
officials are more transparent. Further, these should go together with ICT innovation in
LGAs setting towards effective transparency in LGAs for improved education and health
service delivery
