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Individual

Under this section, MPs are assessed in three areas in which they perform their work namely: Plenary, Committee and Constituency.

  1. In Plenary – MPs are obligated to attend plenary sessions which is an assembly of all MPs in a specific five-year term. These meetings provide them with an opportunity: to present the views of their constituents; raise new issues in terms of; questions, matters of national concern, motions for resolution of the whole House, petitions and move amendments to propose legislation and debate important challenges facing Uganda and take decisions for the ‘peace, order, development and good governance of Uganda (1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda). For this reason, the Scorecard evaluates MPs on their attendance, participation, and debate influence they generate in these plenary debates and provides information on the positions they take and the areas they focus on. Data on attendance is obtained through-attendance register, Plenary Hansard and the Speaker’s Office File on excused absence.
  2. In Committees – There are two types of committees under which MPs oversea the work of the Executive in Parliament i.e. standing and sessional/sectorial committees. Every elected MP is allocated to a standing committee where they serve for a period of five years. Except Cabinet Ministers, they are also allocated to annual sessional /sectoral committees which are reshuffled every year (session) of the five-year term of Parliament. Much of Parliament’s work is conducted in committee sessions-where bills are reviewed and amended, budgetary decisions and recommen­dations are made, and important oversight duties are performed. Also, matters presented to the Plenary are often allocated to a specific committee of Parliament and so each MP is required to serve in each of the above committees. To reflect this work, the Scorecard provides information on committee membership and reports data on the attendance and participation of MPs in committee meetings. It also reports on MPs’ signing and owning up of committee reports. Data used in this assessment is derived from: Committee attendance sheets, Committee Hansard and the Speaker’s office file on excused absence.
  3. In Constituency activities – Under this area, African Leadership Institute (AFLI) assesses data collected by it’s research team from each MPs constituency on aspects such as attendance of district council meetings in accordance with Local Government Act 2007, existence of an MP’s office/ official point of contact, existence of a Political Assistant and personally initiated projects carried out by the MP that are neither funded by national or local governments nor by NGOs. These data are got from- District Local council minutes and attendance registers throughout Uganda, interviews with Key informants and field verification reports by AFLI’s research team.
  4. Regional performance: This is a new addition to the Scorecard which assess and aggregates MPs performance on major parameters according to their regions and sub-regions of decent. Uganda has four distinct regions: Central, Northern, Western, and Southern; and sixteen sub-regions: Acholi, Lango, West Nile, Karamoja, Teso, Sebei, Bugisu, Bukedi, Busoga, North Buganda, South Buganda, Kampala, Kigezi, Ankole, Rwenzori (Tooro) And Bunyoro. All these have some similarities in issues of national concern raised by MPs in the House, social setting, language, trading potential, cultural uniqueness, and other related aspects. Scoring the MPs on regional and sub-region­al matters builds on the principle of working for common good and concern that brings MPs in a pool of collective regional/sub-regional responsibilities, regardless of party or individual profiles. If a matter arises from a given region/sub-region, all MPs from the respective region/sub-region should be seen to act in unison in championing or responding to that issue (s).