Agencification of Public Service Delivery in Developing Societies: Experiences of Pakistan and Tanzania Agency Models

Abstract

Agencification is not a new phenomenon in the public sector. However, since 1980s in developing societies, not only the number of new agencies has gone up but, the existing agencies have also been revitalized under the rubric of New Public Management capsulated in World Bank/IMF’s guided governance and administrative reforms. These agencies have been created in an administrative system which has weak political institutions but well entrenched bureaucracy with strong colonial bureaucratic traditions such as centralization of power exercised by a class of senior bureaucrats occupying top positions in federal ministries. The article examines agencification in developing countries with particular reference to Pakistan and Tanzania agency model. It noted that agencification in developing countries was rarely, if ever, pursued within a systemic conceptual and legal framework, but agencies are often seen as an alternative to already existing state-owned companies which are plagued with corruption. The article therefore draws some observations and remedial actions for improvement in the performance of public sector organisations in developing countries in general and Africa in particular. It concludes that while most government ministries in developing societies cannot trigger public sector transformation due to a lack of performance improvement, agencies are unlikely to do so because of the particular autonomy of the administrative systems in which they are embedded.