The Policy Implementation Phase Of The Public Policy Making Process

Introduction

Policy implementation phase refers to putting together, to fulfil or accomplish what has been jotted down for a specific reason which affects the public. The government and other stakeholders have put into place ideas on how to govern and run the state. Let us look at the example on the policy implementation on smoking in public spaces. It is very clear smoking affects people who are the smoker more than the person and that there are consequences to those who are not adhering to it. There are still people who do not adhere to the policy and most people get frustrated because it does not say much about ordinary people who are exposed to smoking in public spaces, bus stops, in the trains and public parks.

What are the intentions of the policy makers?

It is very important to look deeper into the reason behind drafting a policy. For example, prohibiting public smoking came to light to reduce health risks such as lung cancer, which could see reduction in a number of patients in clinic and hospitals. This will also affect the economy of the country in positive way because there will no longer be thousands of rands spent on medication for treatment of smoking related diseases. Critical issues of the policy implementation phase According to Tebele MM. The problem with these policies seems to be that although they describe the ‘what’, they do not explain the ‘how’. It is crucial for policy-makers to explain the ‘how’ because the primary focus of PPI is putting policy into effect. As such, there needs to be course of action put into place in terms of how to go about implementing policy.

For instance, the National Development Plan (NDP) is a well-designed national policy formulated to eradicate social ills that have been plaguing South Africa as a country; however, there is no course of action presented as to how to go about implementing these policies. The only item offered in the document are the goals that this particular policy aims to achieve, the duration that it should take for the NDP to be correctly implemented and yield results, and a description of the stakeholders. With regards to the point made above, McLaughlin (1987:172) states that the thorny issue regarding public policy implementation is the fact that policymakers do not have the knowledge to carry out the policies drafted by them, and therefore they have to rely on bureaucrats to implement what they have drafted and Parliament has approved.

According to Hanekom (1987:54) and Howie and Stevick (2014:582), PPI is such a challenging, complex and complicated ‘social’ process because all the relevant stakeholders 13 have to be taken into consideration. This argument is supported by Anderson (cited by Broadnax, 1976:701), who argues that 4 when public policy is actualised, two issues frequently emanate. The first issue is that of 'compliance', and the second that of 'noncompliance'. The critical argument made here regarding the two issues is whether the general public will welcome and comply with the policy once it has been adopted and an effort has been made in the implementation of the policy. Therefore, Anderson (cited by Broadnax, 1976:701) states that the root causes of compliance and non-compliance should not be ignored as they form a necessary component in attempting to grasp the grim work that comes with attempting to implement public policy.

Madigan et al. (2004:46) further maintain that policies should not be vague because this would be likely to increase noncompliance. Broadnax (1976:701) believes that the main reason for non-compliance of public policy is because all the relevant stakeholders are ‘often not activated until the implementation phase has begun”. This failure then leads to a lack of support of that particular policy. However, in order to prevent this situation as far as humanly possible; Madigan et al. (2004:48) advise that “educating the “end-users” or the public on the contents of the policy/policies” might perhaps lead to compliance of the policy. The above argument is supported by Mkhize (2015:193) who explains that some of South Africa’s challenges in implementing its public policies are the result of “systematic problems relating to the lack of consultation and participation around policy choices” in all spheres of government (national; provincial and local government). Mkhize (2015:193) argues that the public are not engaged sufficiently and that policy decisions are taken unilaterally.

In most cases the policy implementation does not work because there is no one willing to take it a little further to explain to all stakeholders what is expected of them. For example, simple things such as what should be done to help learners who have never passed any grade but progressed to the next grade due to the fact that they cannot remain in one phase twice. Such learners end up reaching grade 12 and since after that there is no longer a way of pushing them to the next grade. What should happen to such learners especially in deep rural areas where there are no ABET centres or if they are there, they cannot access them for a number of reasons. One of which could be that they could not afford to get there. Are there any measures in place that address such cases to alleviate poverty and help the youth in getting jobs through training on a number of small ways of improving lives such as crafting, gardening, farming etc. All these should be free of charge and accessible in all the communities, especially the rural areas. That would see those learners who are not academically gifted using their talents to make a living, rather than staying at home doing nothing. That could lead to crime and teenage pregnancy and abuse of drugs. The other challenge could be that whoever drafted the policy was not paying attention to the how will this benefit the broader community. Most people find themselves in informal settlements where the infrastructure leaves much to be desired, but that is the place they can afford.

There is no access to essential services such as clinic for emergency cases in the middle of the night or early hours, there is no mobile police station or satellite one for crime related matters. But the government has a policy on access to all essential service for all. The other critical issue related to policy implementation is that of lack commitment from all stakeholders. It might be because there is little or nothing to gain from carrying it out or no one does anything about monitoring the implementation. For example, most rural clinics and hospitals, the dedicated and hardworking nurses do not do what is expected of them because there is very little recognition or there is nothing at all. So trying to do things according to the 5 book won’t yield any get you a promotion or an incentive to keep on doing the good work. They end up being cheque collectors when poor people suffer.

Conclusion

It easy to write down a set of rules without paying attention to all factors that warranted the drafting of that policy. Thus the failure of most policies, which affect service delivery because there is little or no accountability, because there nothing bending which could lead to people being brought to book for wrong doing. It is therefore very important for the government all relevant stakeholders responsible for drafting policies to always look carefully in to these this matter and make sure that members of the public play a vital role in drafting these policy.

REFERENCES:

1. Public Policy Formation & Implementation Anna Maria Online https://online.annamaria.edu/mpa/resource/public-policy-formation-and-implementation
2. Tebele, M.M. 2016. Problems and challenges related to public policy implementation within the South African democratic dispensation: A theoretical exploration. Dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts
3. Political Studies at the Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University Unisa. 2015. Public Policy Making.