Citizens’ Claims‐Making and Navigating the Politics of Accountability in Social Cash Transfers in Uganda

This article examines the politics of citizens’ claims-making in social cash transfers through a case study of the Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment programme in Uganda. Social accountability mechanisms have become embedded in the design and implementation of social cash transfer programmes in the Global South. Various institutional mechanisms with different objectives are implemented to strengthen citizens’ rights claims and hold the state and service providers accountable when things go wrong. However, the impact of these initiatives is contested, and some of these mechanisms, such as grievance redress mechanisms, may do little to help those seeking to register or redress their complaints and grievances. This article argues that the effectiveness of accountability mechanisms in cash transfer programmes can be undermined by several factors. First, the nature of citizens’ complaints, particularly those resulting from the incoherence of targeting mechanisms, stresses the need for a universal approach and an improved civil registry system to address the exclusionary outcome of current targeting mechanisms. Second, the state’s capacity to respond to citizens’ demands for greater programme coverage and sufficient grant amounts is hampered by austerity measures and a dysfunctional administrative capacity that prevents the effective national implementation and institutionalisation of the programme. Third, social accountability efforts in social cash transfers that aim to enhance state–citizen relations are crippled by clientelist politics and the handout logic of these programmes. However, anecdotal evidence indicates a more nuanced understanding of citizenship, where individuals navigate a complex landscape of both fear and empowerment.