Fiscal decentralization has worked well in the United States, Indonesia, some European countries, and, perhaps, Malaysia. It has been less successful in other countries, including Argentina and Brazil. Experiences in those two countries and elsewhere indicate that good results are not automatic. One cause for caution is that decentralization shifts power not only from central to local governments, but from central to local bureaucracies. Local governments are not necessarily staffed by competent, democratically elected officials who have the public interest in mind.
Corruption is one problem.
The local official who is a relative, friend, or former schoolmate is usually far more accessible than a cabinet or ministry official. At the same time, when educational standards are as low as they are in many African countries, the small national pool of talented and trained individuals that central governments can draw from is even smaller for local governments. They can't offer the same career opportunities as the national government, let alone the same attractions as life in the capital. Even in more advanced areas there can be huge differences in quality among local public administrations. In Italy, for example, the administration in Emilia-Romagna is probably better than that in Rome, but the local bureaucracies in the south generally are very weak.