In the Round 5 Afrobarometer survey in Uganda, 74% of Ugandans said the country was headed in the wrong direction. This was a dramatic change from just one year earlier, when 28% said Uganda was headed in the wrong direction. Analysis of these findings suggests that this perception is fuelled by several factors, including dissatisfaction with prevailing economic conditions and declining personal living conditions (see Afrobarometer Briefing Paper No. 101). In the present paper, we explore another factor that may be driving this perception: concerns about declining government effectiveness in addressing citizen priorities.
We first examine trends in citizens’ reported needs and priorities, then compare these to citizens’ evaluations of government performance in addressing those needs.