The aim of the MP scorecards is to give a simple, clear way for citizens to assess the performance of the MP
At the moment the measures used are Contactability, Appearances in Hansard and CDF spending performance. More details on the individual measures can read in the detailed FAQs below
Yes, as more data becomes available we will be adding more measures to the scorecard
Care has been taken to select measure where the source of the data is clear and unambiguous and can be applied across all MPs in a fair manner. Contactability is based upon the different contact and communication means we have on the site for MP = they can at any time provide us with more information to update our records and improve their rating. Hansard appearances are taken from the official Hansard record available on the Parliament website. CDF spending performance is based upon the social audit reports carried out by the National Taxpayers Association.
The NTA has not carried out audits for every constituency yet. As more constituencies are completed new data will be added to the site
Overall score is averaged with every good smiley face contributing +1, every neutral face contributing zero and every bad frown face contribution -1. The resulting value mapped to good/neutral using:
average score >= 0.5 -> Good
-0.5 < average score < 0.5 -> Neutral
average score <= -0.5 -> Bad
For Contactability and Hansard, the measures are automatically calculated using our data - see below for more information. If you have additional contact details you would like to supply, or a query on Hansard appearances, please contact us using the buttons on the appropriate pages. Likewise, if you believe that there is an error in the NTA data that has been used, please use the appropriate button on the page to draw it to our attention.
Contactability reflects the number of different ways a citizen can contact or hear from their MP. This includes postal address, email, phone, a website, Facebook and Twitter. We believe this is an important measure because as elected representatives MPs must make themselves available to the citizens who elected them.
A score of one point for each one of these contact options for which we have information:
The maximum score is therefore five. The scorecard measure is then calculated like this:
Yes. The scorecards are automatically recalculated every night. If an MP, member of their staff or indeed member of the public has contact information not currently included on Mzalendo, please submit it to us using the 'Correct This Information' button on the appropriate MP page and we will add it to the site.
Please let us know using the 'Correct This Information' button on the appropriate MP page and we will check then delete the information from the site.
The official record of the Kenyan National Assembly is called the Hansard – it is named after the British publication of parliamentary proceedings. We have taken all of the Hansard records from 2006 onwards and put them onto Mzalendo in an easy to use, searchable form. From the Hansard records we track every time an MP speaks in Parliament - denoting each instance of them speaking as an 'appearance'. We believe that appearances are important for a number of reasons. Firstly they show that the MP was actually in Parliament that day. Ideally we would like to show the actual attendance of each MP every day, but that data has not been made available to us. Secondly, the role of an MP is to represent the interests and concerns of the citizens who elected them. One of the means of achieving this is through speaking in Parliament on their behalf.
The number of appearances for each MP is was counted for the last six months of 2011. Ratings were then applied as follows:
Yes, we will update the scores once parliament returns, maintaining a rolling 6-month basis for calculating the scores.
Yes, we believe that we have accounted for all of these instances, but if you come across an instance where you think we might have made an error, please let us know using the 'Correct This Information' button on the appropriate page.
In determining who has spoken in parliament we have to rely upon the accuracy of the official record itself. There are some instances where insufficient information has been entered into Hansard to identify a specific speaker - for instance 'omondi' as the only record of a speaker could apply to one of three different people. These instances are however few and far between, and we do not believe that they have made a difference to the overall scorecard ratings.
It counts as three appearances.
CDF stands for Constituency Development Fund. It was established through the CDF Act, 2003 as a public funded kitty that targets development projects at the grassroots level.
It is one of the several devolved funds set up by the Government to mitigate poverty and to harmonize the spread of development throughout the country. It aims at ensuring a portion of the Government Annual Revenue is earmarked for constituencies to finance development projects qualified on a priority basis arrived at by members of a constituency. It aims at ensuring a portion of the Government Annual Revenue is earmarked for constituencies to finance development projects qualified on a priority basis arrived at by members of a constituency.
It aims at ensuring a portion of the Government Annual Revenue is earmarked for constituencies to finance development projects qualified on a priority basis arrived at by members of a constituency.
An MP has plays a significant role to play in ensuring that CDF funds are used effectively to ensure that poverty is reduced in their constituency.
The information we have used about CDF performance has been taken from social audits undertaken by the National Taxpayers Association. There is a link to specific constituency report used on the scorecard tab. The NTA carry out detailed inspections and assessments of all of the funded CDF projects in the constituency to understand how effectively the money is being used.
The NTA assesses the deliver of CDF projects into the follow categories:
In terms of how these categories relate to the overall totals, it is as follows:
The scorecard measure has been calculated in the following way:
The NTA has not completed audits for every constituency - as new data becomes available we will add it to the site.
It is unfair - we believe that we have taken into account the instances of MPs who were not elected in time to have responsibility for the CDF funds in the period being audited. If however you think you have found an error, please let us know using the 'Correct This Information' button on the appropriate page.
In this we have been guided by the NTA, who discovered in their research however, that most of the projects were funded in phases and would receive additional funding in the subsequent financial year (08/09) if the MP is reasonable after coming to office or those kinds of projects would be abandoned all together. After the elections the MPs are expected to right the wrongs of the previous regime and in most cases this is their campaign promise. That is why we don’t let them off the hook when they do not take corrective measures/legal action on previous corruption/complete stalled projects within the constituency.
If you think you have found an error, please let us know using the 'Correct This Information' button on the appropriate page.
The sums involved in CDF funds are so large we wanted to find a way of make the amounts abused and wasted seem relevant to citizens. The cost of teachers seemed like a good way of doing this. and we used an entry level salary of KSH165,000 pa as the basis of the calculation.
We got this data from the Open Data Kenya site