This study of Kampala City Council found that there is a dysfunctional pre-occupation in the Ugandan local development planning system with managerialism and ‘process’ at the expense of public ‘outputs’. A culture of ‘planning is doing’ permeates the [decentralised] centrally controlled local government system. Donor conditions – biased toward ‘good governance’ and technocratic solutions – drive the development and funding agenda. There is a fundamental contradiction between what the formal system wants and what the community wants. The formal system demands bureaucratic managerial and accountability processes combined with imposed planning and a participation-obsessed local government system. The community wants to solve local development problems, yet has little power to influence and define projects according to their local needs – despite the genuine interest of local government officials in providing public goods and services for their communities.