About
What is Mzalendo?
Mzalendo means Patriot in Swahili.
Mzalendo is a volunteer run project whose mission is to “keep an eye on the Kenyan Parliament.”
The project was started by two young like-minded Kenyans who were frustrated by the fact that it is difficult to hold Kenyan Members of Parliament (MPs) accountable for their performance largely because information about their work in Parliament is not easily accessible.
In our opinion Parliament should be one of the most open institutions in government, yet beyond the coverage from local newspapers it is virtually impossible to keep track of what Kenyan Parliamentarians are doing. Of course one can peruse copies of the Hansard, but Hansards do not tell you anything about e.g. your MPs record of attendance in Parliament, whether a particular MP is accessible to his constituents or not, or the percentage of local CDF funded projects that have been completed.
Who we are?
Mzalendo is the effort of hours of blood, sweat, and tears of two young Kenyans. Ms. Ory Okolloh is currently the Executive Director and co-founder of Ushahidi and blogs on Kenyan Pundit “M” currently works in the technology industry in Nairobi and is also a writer. Some of his work is featured on the popular blog “Thinker’s Room.”
We feel that Kenyans not only have “a right to know” but also need to take a more active role in determining their country’s role – this is our effort to do more than just complain about how things are not working in Kenya.
Why Mzalendo?
Mzalendo is a project that evolved out of several concerns. First, it is very difficult to get information about what Kenyan Members of Parliament are doing when in Parliament. Though the Hansard offers a verbatim transcript of Parliamentary proceedings it is not widely circulated. In addition, even if one could get access to the Hansard, extracting relevant information e.g. on how many questions are answered by a particular Ministry can be time consuming. In addition, information such as an MPs vote on a particular bill or contribution to debate on a particular Bill is difficult to ascertain.
Second, the Kenyan government is still very much a “closed society” — the default de facto presumption is that the public does not have a right know unless they have special permission. The fact that the official Parliament website does not have updated MP profiles months after it was relaunched is a testament.
By focusing on one of the major government institutions that should be the most accessible, Mzalendo aims to both “open” up Parliament and demonstrate that it is both possible and necessary for Kenyans to demand and expect more accountability from public institutions.
Third, by relying on technology and the Internet, Mzalendo hopes to be especially accessible to young Kenyans. Young people will soon represent the largest voting bloc in Kenya and we believe that it is important to both get them engaged in public participation in ways that are appealing to them and give them the tools that will facilitate this engagement. In the near future, the site will offer interactive features including a discussion board, individual constituency blogs, and an opportunity to ask your MP questions and get a response online.
Finally, although Mzalendo is a long-term project, we are cognizant of the fact that the 2012 elections are not to far off and we feel it is important for Kenyan voters to have a record of what their individual MPs have been doing since their election into Parliament. Our goal is to have a holistic picture of what your representative has been upto both from official records and the voices of the voters.
