What Mzalendo does

Mzalendo Trust is a Kenyan non-partisan civic-technology organization founded in 2005 and headquartered in Nairobi that operates an AI-powered parliamentary monitoring platform for Kenya's National Assembly and Senate. The platform offers comprehensive coverage of all 348 MPs, 67 Senators, 456 bills, 887 parliamentary sittings, and 47 counties, structured around core modules including MP performance scorecards, Bill Tracker, voting pattern records, committee tracking, and a searchable Hansard archive verified against parliament.go.ke. AI-driven capabilities are layered on top, including "Chat with Mzalendo" (a natural language conversational interface grounded in Hansard), Public Sentiment Analysis of mainstream media coverage, and Parliament Analytics for legislative trend analysis. Related platforms Dokeza (public participation in legislation) and Promise Tracker (campaign promise monitoring) extend the organization's civic engagement footprint.

The business model is non-commercial: Mzalendo is a free public service operated by Mzalendo Trust, with no disclosed pricing tiers, revenue model, or paying customers. Distribution is entirely digital through mzalendo.com and associated platforms, with no physical product, sales force, or app presence. Primary users are Kenyan citizens seeking parliamentary accountability, constituency-level voters tracking their representatives, and civil society organizations and journalists using verified parliamentary data for research and reporting. The organization is co-founded by Ory Okolloh and operates with a 1-10 person team, with no parent company, investors, funding rounds, or M&A activity disclosed in available sources. Its primary upstream relationship is with the Parliament of Kenya, which serves as the authoritative source for Hansard records, MP information, and legislative data.

Name

Mzalendo

Legal name

Mzalendo Trust

Website

https://mzalendo.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Mzalendo Trust operates a free AI-powered parliamentary monitoring platform in Kenya, tracking all MPs, Senators, bills, and Hansard proceedings across 47 counties for citizens, civil society, and media.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Nairobi

HQ country

Kenya

HQ region

Africa

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Mzalendo operates a free, AI-powered parliamentary monitoring platform covering Kenya's National Assembly and Senate. It tracks all MPs and Senators through scorecards, attendance, and voting records; follows Bills through every stage to assent; provides a searchable Hansard archive; and offers AI-driven tools including "Chat with Mzalendo" for conversational queries, public sentiment analysis, and parliamentary analytics. The platform is a free public service provided by Mzalendo Trust, a non-partisan parliamentary monitoring organization.

Product overview

Mzalendo is a non-partisan parliamentary monitoring platform providing comprehensive coverage of Kenya's Parliament. The platform operates as a unified portal with multiple interconnected modules including MP Performance Tracking with scorecards, Bill Tracker, Voting History, Hansard records, Committee Tracking, and Topic coverage. AI-powered features include Chat with Mzalendo for conversational queries, Public Sentiment analysis, and Parliament Analytics. External integration platforms Dokeza (public participation) and Promise Tracker extend citizen engagement capabilities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• MP Performance Tracking Tracks every MP and Senator of the Kenyan National Assembly and Senate, including their parliamentary contributions, attendance, scorecards, and voting patterns. Designed for Kenyan citizens to monitor representative accountability.
• Bill Tracker Follows Bills through every stage from introduction to assent, showing voting records and public reaction. Used by citizens and researchers to track legislation affecting their lives.
• MP Scorecard Evaluates MP performance with scores based on parliamentary attendance, contributions, committee work, and legislative output. Provided for both National Assembly and Senate members.
• Voting History Records and displays how MPs voted on legislation, enabling citizens to track representative accountability on individual Bills.
• Hansard Comprehensive record of parliamentary proceedings including debates, statements, questions, and motions from both the National Assembly and the Senate. Searchable archive for citizens, journalists, and researchers.
• Committee Tracking Monitors National Assembly and Senate committees including membership, proceedings, and reports. Part of the platform's parliamentary monitoring offering.
• Chat with Mzalendo AI-powered conversational interface allowing citizens to ask questions about Parliament and follow topics, with answers grounded in Hansard data. Available without a phone number.
• Public Sentiment Analysis Analyzes public mood and reaction to parliamentary topics and legislation using media sentiment analysis across mainstream media sources.
• Parliament Analytics AI-powered analysis of parliamentary data providing insights into legislative trends, MP performance, and legislative output.
• Dokeza Platform External platform operated by Mzalendo Trust for public participation in legislative processes. Allows citizens to submit their views on Bills.
• Promise Tracker External platform operated by Mzalendo Trust for tracking political promises made by public officials.

Quantifiable outcome

• Tracks 348 MPs and 67 Senators across 13th Parliament
• +3 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Red AfrominorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerWebsite development partner responsible for building and maintaining the mzalendo.com platform. Mentioned in footer as developer credit.
• Parliament of KenyacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary data source for parliamentary proceedings. Data verified against parliament.go.ke. Source of Hansard records, MP information, voting records, and legislative documents.
• Dokeza PlatformminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRelated civic technology platform operated by Mzalendo Trust for public participation in legislative processes. External link from main site.
• Promise TrackerminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRelated civic technology platform for tracking political promises. External link from main site, operated by Mzalendo Trust.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• OpenParliament: Canadian open-data project tracking MPs, bills and parliamentary activity. Mirrors Mzalendo's legislative-monitoring approach but is geographically focused on Canada.
• They Vote For You (OpenAustralia): Australian mySociety-built platform tracking MP voting records and performance — same model as UK They Work For You, applied to the Australian Parliament. Comparable regionally but does not operate in Kenya.

Direct peers

• OpenStates: US state-legislature tracking platform following legislators, bills and votes across 50 states. Same monitoring architecture as Mzalendo, applied to sub-national legislatures.
• GovTrack: US Congressional tracking platform monitoring legislators, bills and voting records. Directly comparable to Mzalendo in mission (legislative transparency) and feature surface (legislator profiles, bill tracker, voting history).
• Vote Smart (Project Vote Smart): Non-partisan US politician-information service with voting records, performance scores and biographical data. Directly analogous to Mzalendo's MP Scorecard and voting-pattern modules.
• They Work For You: UK parliamentary monitoring site built by mySociety that tracks MP voting, attendance, and debates. Closely comparable feature set and civic-tech, non-partisan positioning to Mzalendo.
• Ushahidi: Kenyan civic-tech platform co-founded by Mzalendo co-founder Ory Okolloh, focused on citizen reporting and crisis mapping. Shares founder DNA, Kenyan civic-tech origin, and citizen-accountability mission.

Emerging players

• Africa's Voices Foundation: Civic-engagement organization using media and SMS dialogue to surface citizen voice in African governance. Adjacent civic-engagement mission with overlapping African focus, though different methodology.
• Code for Africa: Pan-African civic-tech network building digital tools for citizen engagement and government accountability. Comparable African context and mission, with broader thematic scope than Mzalendo.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/mzalendofans
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mzalendo-trust

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Mzalendo