Abstract. Full text article available at http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.8.4.2018.p7635Many people lose their lives each year due to disasters in Tanzania, with a vast property damage. When compared to others, floods are the number one damaging economics and causing loss of lives. The Mkondoa River is one of the biggest rivers which causes floods in Kilosa District. This article, has explored the influence of governance and/or institutional structures on the management and control of floods, in the four villages adjacent to Mkondoa River in Kilosa District. The fundamental argument of the article is that, the existing governance and institutional structures are insufficient in terms of providing structural and non-structural measures before, during and after floods. This is mainly because of the top-down decision making set up, inadequate funding, lack of disaster experts, and the delay of reliefs to flood victims. The article also identifies that, these problems were in place due to economic, political, environmental, and social settings. It is concluded that, efforts are needed to strengthen the performance of governance and/or institutional structures particularly in creating a network of flood management actors, which the responsible institutions should involve the community accordingly, in the processes of managing and controlling floods.