Did They Work for Us? Assessing Two Years of Bunge Data 2010-2012
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Did they work for us? Assessing two years of Bunge data 2010-2012 1. Introduction The ninth session of the Bunge (Parliament) was adjourned on 9 November 2012, two years since the commencement of the first session on 9 November 2010 following the general election. These Bunge sessions have been broadcast through private and public TV stations allowing citizens to follow their representatives’ actions. Another source of information regarding MP performance is provided by the Parliamentary On-line Information System (POLIS) posted on the Tanzania Parliament website (www.bunge.go.tz) An important question for any citizen is: how did my MP represent my interests in Parliament? One way to assess performance of MPs is to look at the number of interventions they make in Bunge. MPs can make three types of interventions: they can ask basic questions submitted in advance; they can add supplementary questions after basic questions have been answered by the government; or they can makecontributions during the budget sessions, law amendments or discussions on new laws. This brief presents six facts on the performance of MPs, from November 2010 to November 2012, updating similar analyses conducted by Twaweza in previous years. It includes an assessment of who were the least and most active MPs. It also raises questions on the significance of education level when it comes to effectiveness of participation by MPs in parliament. The dataset can be downloaded from www.twaweza.org/go/bunge2010-2012 The Bunge dataset includes observations on 351 members: MPs who were elected and served (233), MPs in Special Seats (102), Presidential Appointees (10) and those from the Zanzibar House of Representatives (5) and the Attorney General. For this brief, we exclude seven members from the analysis: the parliamentary officials (Speaker, Deputy This brief was produced by Twaweza housed at Hivos Tanzania P.O.Box 38342, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. T: +255 22 266 4301 | F: +255 22 266 4308 E: [email protected] | W: www.twaweza.org Published February 2013 Table1: Average number of interventions per MP, by party Number Interventions per MP Basic Questions Supplementary Contributions of MPs (total) (per MP) Questions (per (per MP) MP) Large PartiesTable1: Average number of intervention per MP, by Party Chadema 48 57 6 11 40 Party Nunber of Total Interventions Basic Questions Supplementary Contributions CUF MPs 35 (per MP)41 (per MP) Questions 5 (per MP) (per MP)8 28 Large PartiesCCM 254 39 3 6 30 Chadema 48 57 6 11 40 CUF Small 35 41 5 8 28 CCM Parties 254 39 3 6 30 Small PartiesTLP 1 87 1 14 60 TLP NCCR-‐ 5 1 74 87 13 7 14 17 60 50 MAGEUZI NCCR-MAGEUZI 5 74 7 17 50 UDP 1 37 0 9 28 UDP 1 37 0 9 28 Source of Data:Source Parliament of of Data: Parliament Tanzania Website of Tanzania (www.bunge.go.tz) Website www.bunge.go.tz ( ) Fact 3: Fact Elected 3: MPs Elected areMPs more are active more than nominated active MPs than nominated MPs As shownAs in Figure shown 2 below, in elected Figure 2 below ,members elected were members the most were active in the terms most active of in t erms contributions, of contribution s, with 33 with 33 contributionscontributions per per MP, MP, while while Special Special Seats Seats MPs MPs were were slightly slightly more active more active in terms in terms of basic questions of basic questionsand s upplementary and supplementary questions with ( questionsfive and seven (with question five ands per seven MP in questions the two per MP categories, in the tworespectively) categories,. respectively). MPs from the Zanzibar MPs from House the Zanzibar of House Representatives of Representatives and those and nominated by the those nominatedPresident by the were President the least wereduring active the least parliamentary active duringsessions parliamentary. sessions. Figure 2 : Average number of intervention per MP, by member type Figure 2: Average number of intervention per MP, by member type Consktuency Special Seats Nominated by President Zanzibar House of Representakves 35 33 29 30 25 25 20 15 10 7 8 5 5 5 5 2 1 1 Number of interventions 0 0 Basic queskon Supplementary queskon Contribukon Source of Data: Parliament of Tanzania Website (www.bunge.go.tz) Source of Data: Parliament of Tanzania Website www.bunge.go.tz ( ) Fact 4: MPs with higher education levels are more active Information on education levels for 311 MPs (89 percent of the total) was made available in the Parliamentary On-line Information System (POLIS). Among these MPs, those with primary education were less active on average than those with post-secondary and higher levels of education (Figure 3). However, MPs with postgraduate degrees and doctorates made fewer interventions than their counterparts with single degrees. 3 Fact 4 : MPs with higher education are levels more active Information on education or levels f 311 MPs (89 percent of the total) was made available in the Parliamentary On-‐line Information System (POLIS). Among these MPs, those with primary education were less active on than average those with post -‐secondary and higher levels of education (Figure 3). However, MPs with postgraduate degrees and doctorates made fewer interventions than their counterparts with single degrees. Figure Figure 3: Average3 : Average number of number intervention of intervention per MP, by per education MP, by education level level 50 47 44 45 42 39 40 35 32 30 30 25 20 15 Number of IntervenJons 10 5 0 Primary Secondary Post Secondary Degree Post degree PhD/Professor Source of Data: Parliament of Tanzania Website www.bunge.go.tz ( ) Source of Data: Parliament of Tanzania Website (www.bunge.go.tz) FactFact 5:5 Hon.: Hon. GeorgeGeorge Boniface Boniface Simbachawene Simbachawene was was the the most most active MP activeTo identify MP the overall performance of MPs, the three types of interventions were aggregated to To create identify total a theperformance overall performance score. Aggregation of MPs, was the three done by adding up the types number of interventions of times an MP were aggregatedasked a to basic create or a total supplementary performance question score. Aggregation or made a contribution. Using this was done approach Hon. by addingGeorge up the Simbachawene of CCM is ranked as the most active iod MP in the per studied, with a total of 273 numberinterventions: of times 7 an basic MP asked questions, a 16 supplbasicementary or supplementary questions question and 250 contributions. or made a contribution. Using this approach Hon. George Simbachawene of CCM is ranked as the most active MP in the period studied, with a total of 273 interventions: 7 basic questions, 16 supplementary questions and 250 contributions. Table 2: Top five most active MPs Hon. George Hon. John Hon. Tundu Hon. Diana Hon. Kabwe Boniface Mnyika Antiphas Mkumbo Zuberi Simbachawene Mughwai Chilolo Zitto Lissu Party CCM Chadema Chadema CCM Chadema Rank 1 2 3 4 5 Total 273 269 146 131 126 Interventions Source of Data: Parliament of Tanzania Website (www.bunge.go.tz) 4 Hon. John Mnyika, Hon. Tundu Lissu and Hon. Zitto Kabwe, also of Chadema, made the list of the top five most active MPs. Hon. Diana Chilolo of CCM was also among the top five most active MPs. Fact 6: Hon. Mohammed Said Mohammed was the least active MP Using the same approach, Hon. Mohamed Said Mohamed of CCM was found to be the least active MP out of all ‘ordinary’ MPs. He is the only MP in Parliament who reportedly did not make a single intervention in the two years covered by this brief, according to the POLIS records. The other members who were least active were also from CCM, as shown in Table 3 below. Table 3: Least active MPs in the Parliament Hon. Hon. Edward Hon. Mahadhi Hon. Hon. Muhammed Ngoyai Juma Maalim Mwanakhamis Mohammed Seif Khatib Lowassa Kassim Said Said Mohammed Party CCM CCM CCM CCM CCM Rank 340 341 342 343 345 Total 3 2 2 2 0 Interventions Source of Data: Parliament of Tanzania Website (www.bunge.go.tz) 3. Conclusion The information in this brief was retrieved from the publicly accessible Parliamentary On- line Information System (POLIS) and has been used to assess the level of participation by Members of Parliament in the first nine sessions (two years) of the Eighth Parliament of the United Republic of Tanzania. The most active MPs tended to come from the opposition, and the least active were from the ruling CCM party. Perhaps this is no surprise, since one of the roles of Parliament is to hold the executive in check. Another factor at play here is that, for any given national level agenda item to be discussed in Bunge, large parties have more candidates to take the word and so the average number of interventions per large party MP will be lower. However, for policy questions at the constituency level this is not the case. This raises questions about the effectiveness of representation of constituency interests in Parliament. 5 The method used in this assessment, number of interventions in Bunge, is only one indicator of MP performance. Follow-up to questions or issues is not considered, nor roles that MPs can play serving in parliamentary committees. Perhaps a more valued role may be how MPs engage with citizens in their constituencies, influencing ‘projects’ and funds to be channeled in their areas and taking actions to solve problems. As of yet we do not know of an effective way to measure such performance, but we welcome your ideas. This brief also assesses active participation by education levels. It may be useful to study other relationships, such as wealth levels.