Who’s the Boss?” Questioning the Constitutional Authority of Federal Regulation of Local Government

Abstract

Regulation of local government in federal systems is in the main
the competence of subnational governments. This relates largely
to the fact that local government itself is often the exclusive competence
of subnational units. However, it hardly escapes from
being impacted on directly or indirectly by the regulatory powers
of the federal government. Under Ethiopia’s dual federal system,
local government is the exclusive competence of state governments,
yet the federal government is often seen directly regulating
the activities of local government through its policies and
legislation. This article seeks to investigate whether the federal
government’s exercise of regulatory power over local government
is constitutionally permissible.