Tales Of Accountability: A Q-Method Study Of Discourses Amongst Tanzanian Members Of Parliament

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Accountability is an essentially contested, and hence thoroughly political notion: an umbrella concept touching upon almost all facets and aspects of the drive for ‘democracy’ and ‘good governance, in developed industrial countries as well as in emerging economy countries like Tanzania. It has become a buzzword in the Washington Consensus ideas about economic development through improving competitiveness, and in concomitant funding programmes by the WB, IMF, OECD and even NGO or charitable donation-based donors. This widespread uptake of the concept has, no doubt, added to the multiple meanings of the concept. Recently, associated academic research on accountability has started to distinguish between formal and informal accountability mechanisms. This distinction not only encourages new thinking on how accountability practices work in Africa but also defies the widely held notion that formal accountability practices are a silver bullet to Africa’s quest for development. As a consequence, the dominant discourse on formal accountability as a solution is increasingly challenged to consider informal accountability mechanisms more seriously (Kelsall ; de Wit & Akinyoade ; Lindberg ; Tilley ). The parliamentexecutive accountability relationship is one area where formal and informal accountability behaviour of Members of Parliament is increasingly coming to light and often analysed in terms of ‘political clientelism’ (Lindberg ). The major question this article poses is whether or not different meanings of accountability can be discerned in the beliefs of Tanzanian Members of Parliament (MPs), and if yes, which ones. The overall motivation for this research is to contribute to efforts for ‘good governance’ by ‘providing sensible interpretations of African realities that offer guidance – rather than precise answers – as to what can be done to foster improvement of governance from within