Open Parliaments are those whose transparency, accountability to the public and citizen participation are robust and widespread enough as to allow the people to access, meaningfully participate in and positively influence the work of Parliament. To this end, the following four pillars are central to assessments and ranking of Parliamentary openness in Africa and across the globe: Transparency, Civic Participation, Public Accountability, and Ethical Conduct.
Commissioned by Mzalendo Trust, (hereinafter referred to as Mzalendo) this assessment of the status of openness by the National Parliaments of the East African Member Countries (Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo-DRC, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda) is an intermediate objective in Mzalendo’s quest to develop a maiden East African Open Parliament Index (EA-OPI). The EA-OPI shall be a tool for periodic assessment of levels of parliamentary openness both for purposes of advocacy and cross-regional learning in enhancing parliamentary openness in the region and across Africa.