Active Political Participation of Citizens and Its Impact on Building Democratic Government System: The Case of Wolaita Zone

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to assess the importance of active political participation of citizens and its impact on building democratic Government system: the case of Wolaita zone. Active political participation is currently becoming an important issue in the development endeavor of the To conduct this study mixed approaches of both qualitative quantitative data were employed. The questionnaire and interview were used to obtain the data. Whereas, the findings indicate that active political participation is important to build democratic, it creates an accountable and transparent administrative system, good governance as well as peace and stability in the Zone. Political participation establishes good governance like democratic and fair governance system. If there is democratic and fair governance, there is fair distribution of public services and equality between citizens. But the absence of political participation brings the absence of good governance. Political participation is one of the criteria or the guideline for a good governance system. So that the researcher concludes that all of the respondents have participated in political life and they have the experience of participation in the study area. This shows that they established a strong and good governance system by political participation in the area. The challenges of citizen’s non participation or peoples not participating in politics or in solving community problems mainly due to lower socio-economic status; individuals are not initiated to participate in the politics, limited time and money, lack of information and knowledge about the issue, lack of confidence and ability. The possible measures are recommended to promote active political participation of the citizens in the study area.