Importance of Public Service Accountability and difficulties in it

Importance of Public Service Accountability and difficulties in it

   Public service is the business of supplying essential commodities to members of a community by an authority within a jurisdiction. It includes the service of a government to the citizens in the form of electrical power, transport, security, medical, waste disposal, education, among others (Smith, T. B. 1991). In most cases, the community contribute a resource to the authority for the public service and their accountability.

Importance of Accountability of Public Service

                   To promote transparency

Persons public service authority have a duty to be transparent in performing their work since the decision they make in allocation of resources affect the entire community. Transparency is essential for the community to have confidence in the authority discharging public service (Paul, S. 1992).

                  To enhance fairness in resource allocation

Public service authority has to account for its decisions so that the community can assess the level of fairness in service delivery. Therefore, the authority has to ensure proper and prioritized resource allocation to ensure fairness prevails ( Besley, T., & Ghatak, M. 2003).

To establish integrity

         Public sector personnel must be straightforward and trustworthy. Accountability aids in assessing integrity in their service delivery. Effective and efficient resource allocation and utilization is improved by accounting on how resources have been used ( Besley, T., & Ghatak, M. 2003).

To strengthen trust

       Accounting in public sector strengthens trust among stakeholders. Trust is important for cohesion and reduction of conflict cases that may arise.

Difficulties in Public Service Accountability

Most areas of service delivery on public service mandate are highly technical. The holders of such offices can only use estimated figures to account for their decisions and therefore only reasonable and not absolute level of accountability is possible (McDonald, C. 1997).

Conclusion

Public sector authority and the stakeholders have a principal relationship. Harmony between all stakeholders is important for efficient service delivery, especially because the stakeholders take care of the infrastructure laid by the public sector authority (Smith, T. B. 1991).

References

Besley, T., & Ghatak, M. (2003). Incentives, choice, and accountability in the provision of public services. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 19(2), 235-249.

McDonald, C. (1997). Government, funded nonprofits, and accountability. Nonprofit Management and Leadership, 8(1), 51-64.

Paul, S. (1992). Accountability in public services: exit, voice and control. World Development, 20(7), 1047-1060.

Smith, T. B. (1991). The comparative analysis of bureaucratic accountability. Asian Journal of Public Administration, 13(1), 93-104.