1.Short Title
This Act may be cited as the Access to Information Act.
Plain English Summary
This section gives the official name of the law.
2.Interpretation
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—
"Cabinet Secretary" means the Cabinet Secretary for the time being responsible for matters relating to information;
"chief executive officer of a public body or private body" means the Principal Secretary in the case of a Government Ministry or Department, the managing director in the case of a corporate body, or the person assigned the principal administrative responsibility in any body by whatever title;
"citizen" means any individual who has Kenyan citizenship, and any private entity that is controlled by one or more Kenyan citizens.
"Commission" means the Commission on Administrative Justice established by section 3 of the Commission on Administrative Justice Act (Cap. 7J);
"edited copy" in relation to a document, means a copy of a document from which exempt information has been deleted;
"electronic record" means a record generated in digital form by an information system, which can be transmitted within an information system or from one information system to another and stored in an information system or other medium;
"exempt information" means information that may be withheld by a public entity or private body in accordance with section 6;
"information" includes all records held by a public entity or a private body, regardless of the form in which the information is stored, its source or the date of production;
"information access officer" means any officer of a public entity or private body designated under section 7 as such for purposes of this Act;
"interested party" means a person who has an identifiable stake or legal interest in the proceedings before the court but is not a party to the proceedings or may not be directly involved in the litigation;
"national security" has the same meaning assigned to it by Article 238(1) of the Constitution;
"person" has the meaning assigned to it in Article 260 of the Constitution;"personal information" means information about an identifiable individual, including, but not limited to—
Plain English Summary
This section explains the exact meaning of special words used throughout this law. For example, it defines a citizen as a person from Kenya, and information as any saved note or computer file. It also explains that a public entity is any government office, while an information access officer is the specific worker who helps you get records. Finally, it notes that personal information means your private details, while exempt information refers to secrets the government is allowed to keep safe.
3.Object and purpose of the Act
The object and purpose of this Act is to—
(a) give effect to the right of access to information by citizens as provided under Article 35 of the Constitution;
(b) provide a framework for public entities and private bodies to proactively disclose information that they hold and to provide information on request in line with the constitutional principles;
(c) provide a framework to facilitate access to information held by private bodies in compliance with any right protected by the Constitution and any other law;
(d) promote routine and systematic information disclosure by public entities and private bodies on constitutional principles relating to accountability, transparency and public participation and access to information;
(e) provide for the protection of persons who disclose information of public interest in good faith; and
(f) provide a framework to facilitate public education on the right to access information under this Act.
Plain English Summary
The goal of this law is to make sure Kenyan citizens can see government and company records easily. It forces offices to share information openly and gives people a way to ask for documents. It also helps teach the public about their right to know things, while keeping people safe if they speak up to expose bad things or secrets.