ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the link between public trust in parliament and the ethical behavior of MPs, noting that legislatures have lost legitimacy as the level of trust in parliament has fallen. It argues that, after analyzing the survey data collected by the World Value Survey Association, it can be note that parliaments are, along with political parties, the least trusted political institutions in the world. The chapter also discusses some of the steps that legislatures have taken to regain the public trust. It also compares and contrasts codes of ethics and codes of conduct. In Kenya, the codes of ethics and the code of conduct were established by The Public Officer Ethics Act. In some instances, ethics rules and Codes of Conduct were included in laws and legislative proposals that aimed to regulate the behavior of public officials, while in other cases ethics rules and Codes of Conduct were included in parliamentary standing orders or rules of procedures.
