On July 16^th 2010, following the completion of the 20^th session of the Bunge, the President of Tanzania dissolved the 9^th Parliament. This event marked the end of the term for Members of Parliament who were elected during the 2005 general elections. Now that the last session has been completed it allows us to look back and to consider how MPs performed during their tenure. Did they participate actively and represent their constituencies by asking questions and making interventions, or were they silent backbenchers?

The Bunge is the Supreme Legislature of Tanzania. The Bunge grants money for running the administration and oversees government programs and plans. The Bunge oversees the actions of the Executive and serves as watchdog to ensure that government is accountable to its citizens. To achieve all this, Members of Parliament pass laws, authorise taxation and scrutinize government policies including proposal for expenditure; and debate major issues of the day. For the Bunge to effectively carry out its oversight role, active participation by Members of Parliament is critical. MPs can be active by making three kinds of interventions: they can ask basic questions, they can ask supplementary questions and they can make contributions during debates.

This brief follows earlier briefs, the last of which was released in August 2010. It presents seven facts on the performance of MPs, including rating who were the most active and least active MPs.

The information in this brief was retrieved from the public Parliamentary On-line Information System (POLIS) posted on the Tanzania Parliament Website (http://www.bunge.go.tz) in August 2010. The full data set can also be downloaded from the Uwazi website (http://www.uwazi.org).

Related documents:

• Do people prefer active MPs?
• Uganda: The Parliamentary Scorecard 2008 - 2009