Performance Reporting Delay In Local Government: A Global South View

Purpose The object of this paper is to understand how central-local relations and internal technical characteristics contribute to performance reporting delays at the local level in a Global South context. Design/methodology/approach The paper develops and tests four propositions using a combination of secondary data analyses and semistructured interviews with 30 local government officials. Findings The findings indicate that delays in performance reporting are generally high in pre-election years because leadership commitments at the local level largely shift toward national politics (campaigning for re-election of the president). Additional reporting delays were found to be the result of low financial capacity to maintain appropriate data collection and management systems, lack of highly trained monitoring and evaluation experts at the local level and lack of sanctions for noncompliance.Originality/value This paper adds to the existing literature by offering directions for approaching performance reporting delay in two ways. First, it emphasizes central-local relations as an important political determinant of performance reporting delay. Second, it explores reporting delay in Ghana's local governments and therefore provides useful insights from a Global South perspective.