Good governance is one that emphasizes leadership which suggests the way political leaders and state official, use resources to promote social and economic development or to engage in those agendas that largely undermine the realization of the good things of life for the people. This is usually coupled with a set political or non-political structures which shape up the framework and guidelines through which they intend to govern over a while. To put forth a formal way in which the norms, rules, and actions are structured, sustained and regulated in the process of governing, there have to be transparency and accountability modalities in place. These two, transparency and accountability make governance very effective.

Governance is categorized as being poor when it does not have transparency and accountability. Every government’s primary mandate is to render services to its people. Transparency in governance can be defined as how the government shares information to its citizen, or the public. Every government exists courtesy of the taxpayers, who are also the very voters funding every government operation and projects from the revenue and taxes they pay. This transparency not only makes the taxpayer have faith in government but also keep to tabs various initiatives being carried out by the same government. Transparency is a principle of good governance. It is mainly responsible in creating effective governance[1].

Accountability, on the other hand, is the ability to provide checks and balances in governance. The government must account for its activities, take responsibility for them and give appropriate feedback to the public, over any concerns raised[2]. Accountability in governance, therefore, means the government is responsible for decisions and laws affecting its citizens.In management,to be accountable is to put every decision by government officials into oversight which will, in turn, make sure that any government meets its target initiatives and appropriately respond to the needs of their people, whom they are meant to benefit. This in turn directly contributes to better governance process.

Accountability is a significant cornerstone for good governance whose concept revolves around answerability and enforcement of ideas or policy by the government.Answerability is the task of any government, its institutions and public officials to give information on decisions they make and actions taken when in office and to justify them to the citizens of a nation and those institutions of accountability responsible for providing oversight. Ineffective governance, accountability is linked to the idea of stewardship. It could also be viewed as a summation of giving an account of actions taken and being held answerable. And to give account would, by itself, be inadequate unless there is a means of holding the actor responsible.Different institutions are mandated to be responsible for accountability andare given powers to sanction the offending party or offer solutions to outrageous behaviors.

Accountabilityis a core pillar to any good governance, and just like transparency, it ensures effectiveness in governance. To evaluate effectiveness public officials or public bodies ensures that they are performing to their full potential, providing value for money in the provision of public services, instilling confidence in the government and being responsive to the community they are meant to be serving. The concept of accountability can be categorized according to the type of accountability exercised or that grouping or institution to which the public official responds to.

Accountability and transparency in governance:

Accountability and Transparency are as important for one as the other in governance. The two are very effective inensuring good governance. Good governance is a system of governance based on good leadership, respect for the rule of law and due process, accountability of the political leadership in place as well as transparency in the operations of the government. In order to understand the concepts of accountability and transparency in governance, we focus on each one of these and the various segments in which they are subdivided.

An effective governance system practices proactive transparency, which involves the publication of information of public importance before the public requires them. All Information of Public Importance belongs to the public, and that they are only in possession of public or governance institutions. It is a belief that there is a general right of the public to know and pro-active transparency is a mechanism for exercising this right. The application of the concept under this title is advocated by public administration theorists and international associations like the World Bank. There is also a second type which is reactive transparency. It is also about the public’s right to know, but in this case, it is carried out on popular demand.An aspiration to the level of full transparency on basis of people’s right to know, has a general belief that democracy is the rule of the people and that the elected representatives are temporary executors of the decision-makers duties, but are accountable to citizens[3]. Defined in that manner, it requires public authorities not to keep citizens in equal position with decision makers and to provide citizens with information, at the same time as the rest of the administration.

As earlier discussed, Transparency is how much open a state’s governance system is open to its people. The concept of transparency mainly encompasses one’s physical attributes and appearance. It is the relationship between one’s words and deeds in leadership. It can be broken into integrity, decorum, rectitude and leading by example. Likewise, accountability, which is giving accounts of actions taken and heldresponsible. An accountable public servant is one who is answerable to resources entrusted to them as well as offers an up to date chronology of what he or she has done with the said resources.Accountability can thus be categorized into individual accountability, managerial accountability, administrative accountability, and programme accountability.

An effective democratic society depends on accountability and transparency for good governance[4].The success of leadership in any governance project rests on the ability of the leadership to see beyond the perceptual vista of the people, appreciate their needs and inspire and motivate them to cherish and desire these needs as goals that should be achieved.

In a functioning democracy, the ultimate authority lies within the people. And ultimately, the government is answerable to the people. Moreover, to guarantee such accountability modern states have established and strengthened their political systems in such a way that people have most of the power, though indirectly.

In some democracies across the globe, parliament plays a crucial role in enforcing and ensuring the effectiveness of transparency and accountability in governance. This role is In terms of holding government officials to account; parliament is the principal and the official the agent[5]. Parliament, as principal, requires the government and its officials, as agents, to implement the laws, policies, and programs it has approved and held the government and officials to account for their performance in this regard. Legislatures are elected, by the voters to enact laws and oversee government actions on their behalf. The electorate then holds legislators to account at election time and, in a few jurisdictions, through recall, where dissatisfied voters can recall their elected representative and vote for an alternative.

Strengthening transparency and accountability has been a growing component of development for decades. An increasingly ‘good governance’ has permeated development discourse. .This is in line with the rising interest in improving governance increasingly seen as the cornerstone of successful development. This role of transparency and accountability in management has been acknowledged in several commitments some countries across the globe made in Paris. These trends underscore the widely-held view any that efforts to address poverty and sustainable development are anchored on effective governance, which mainly depends on transparency and accountability.

References

Backstrand,  Karin and Michael Saward.2004.’’Democratizing Global Governance: Stakeholder  Democracy at the World Summit for Sustainable Development. ’Paper Presented   at the American Political Science Conference, Chicago.

Ball, Carolyn. “Is labor-management cooperation possible in the public sector without a change in law?223” Journal of Collective Negotiations in the Public Sector 25 (1996): 23-30.

Mitchell, Ronald B.1998 sources of transparency.

Mueller, J. (2007). When doing good is just the start to being good: A possible tool to improve the organizational effectiveness of non-profit health care organizations. Journal of hospital marketing & public relations, 17(2), 45-60.

Weiss, Thomas G. “Governance, good governance and global governance: conceptual and actual challenges.” Third world quarterly 21, no. 5 (2000): 795-814.

[1]Backstrand, Karin and Michael Saward.2004.’’Democratizing Global Governance: Stakeholder Democracy at the World Summit for Sustainable Development. ’Paper Presented   at the American Political Science Conference,Chicago.

[2]Ball, Carolyn. “Is labor-management cooperation possible in the public sector without a change in law?223” Journal of Collective Negotiations in the Public Sector 25 (1996): 23-30.

[3]Weiss, Thomas G. “Governance, good governance and global governance: conceptual and actual challenges.” Third world quarterly 21, no. 5 (2000): 795-814.

[4]Mitchell, Ronald B.1998 sources of transparency.

[5]Mueller, J. (2007). When doing good is just the start of being right: A possible tool to improve the organizational effectiveness of non-profit health care organizations. Journal of hospital marketing & public relations, 17(2), 45-60.

Do you need high quality Custom Essay Writing Services?