Who gets elected to African parliaments, and what do they do? Findings from the HOME project (How Members of Parliament in Africa Represent their Constituencies) help answer these questions. The results were presented during a summer course on African Politics organized by the Institute of Social Sciences- University of Lisbon, and Iscte-IUL.
In Ghana, as in many parliaments around the world, MPs remain overwhelmingly male, older than the general population (with an average age of 49), and highly educated, with many holding university degrees and coming from business or administrative backgrounds. This suggests a political elite influenced by corporate-sector resources and networks.
Beyond their profiles, the study revealed how Ghanaian MPs spend their time serving constituents. Their work ranges from donating computers to schools to intensely personal engagements, such as attending up to seven weddings in a single weekend. While these activities strengthen ties with local communities, MPs themselves reported (in interviews) that it was challenging to address the unrelenting demands of constituency service.
Comparative insights with South Africa highlighted the importance of electoral systems in shaping MPs' behavior. Ghana’s candidate-centered system incentivizes direct service to constituents, while South Africa’s party-centered system results in less personalized engagement. Overall, the research highlights African parliaments as elitist institutions marked by the underrepresentation of women and youth, the dominance of wealthy and well-connected individuals, and high turnover, with about 50% of MPs changing with each election cycle.
Despite data collection challenges, including incomplete MP biographies, and partial data on parliamentary speeches and questions, the project created new datasets on MPs’ profiles and activities in Ghana and South Africa (part of which are available in the project's website). Theoretically, it contributes to understanding representation as both formal institutional work and informal, personalized service provision; moving beyond purely clientelistic interpretations.
These findings remind us that strengthening parliamentary democracy requires grappling with who represents, how they do it, and for whom.
