ARTICLE 19 welcomes the recent passage of the

Access to Information Bill 2015 by the National

Assembly and the Senate, and calls on the President to

append his signature to enable its assent into law. The

passage of the Bill is the culmination of years of

advocacy, undertaken principally by civil society, to

have a right to information law in place.

The passage of this Bill heralds a new era for transparency

in the country, as citizens will now be enabled to access and

use information to hold their government accountable and

promote legitimate good governance in the country, said

Henry Maina, the Director, ARTICLE 19 Eastern Africa.

The Bill positively enshrines a number of progressive freedom

of information principles, as it affirms a legally enforceable

right for every citizen to access all information held by public

entities and private bodies; clear and simple procedures for

assessing information; the creation of comprehensive

proactive disclosure regime; and provision for exempt

information subject to international standards.

Considerations should now be made to ensure the effective

implementation of the provisions within the bill and the

empowerment of oversight institutions such as the

Commission on Administrative Justice. We also call for the

speedy formulation of the regulations by the Cabinet

Secretary, once the Bill assents into law, which should be

realized through a consultative process that are inclusive of

other stakeholders like the private sector and CSOs, added

Maina.

The Bill confers on the Commission on Administrative Justice

(CAJ) oversight and enforcement powers over the provisions

of the Act and requires the Commission to work with other

public bodies on the promotion of access to information. Its

also mandated to hear and determine complaints and review

decisions arising from breach of provisions of the Act.

The Bill was sponsored to the National Assembly as a private

members bill by the Women Representative for Nyeri County

Hon. Priscilla Nyokabi.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

For media interviews please contact: Sandra Musoga, Senior

Programme Officer, Access to Information, ARTICLE 19

Eastern Africa Email: sandra@article19.org or call on +254

20 3862230