Kenya Begins Process of Developing FOI Legislation

16 November 2011

Kenya, with a newly minted constitutional provision guaranteeing access to information, is moving toward the development of a law to implement the right.

Consideration of a freedom of information bill and a data protection bill has been started by the Constitution Implementation Commission, working with civil society groups. Among those involved are the Kenya Section of the International Commission of Jurists and the FOI Civil Society Coalition/Network.

The draft data protection bill was recently criticized as “critically limited” by Article 19, the London-based freedom of expression group.

The draft FOIA bill now the subject of consultations would implement Article 35 of the Constitution provides that every citizen has the right of access to information held by the state. (The constitution was adopted in 2010. (See previous FreedomInfo.org report.)

An article in The Nation provides some general background.

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