Why you must robustly exercise the right of access to information
Citizens have the right to access certain information about public entities such as the decision making process of the entity, salary scales, contracts awarded. PHOTO | FOTOSEARCH
The right to information is protected under Article 35 of the Constitution which basically protects your entitlement to crucial information that is important to protecting other rights.
But how many times have you gone to an institution seeking information pertaining to your affairs and been denied the same? Some common examples: You seek information from your financial or telecommunications provider but do not get it on grounds of protocol. You seek information about the grading of an exam but hit the wall.
Many private institutions use internal protocols and procedures as a reason to deny their customers information. Other times it takes unnecessarily long to come by such that by the time it comes through, it is of no use. This position has now changed.
The constitution is the supreme law of the land and all persons and institutions have to comply. This means private entities may have to restructure their internal policies and systems to be legally compliant.
The public should enforce this right as it is a constitutional right. Nobody can deny you information that you require. Hopefully the public will enforce their rights.
The Act sets out the manner in which institutions are required to comply with a request for information. Citizens have the right to access certain information about public entities such as the decision making process of the entity, salary scales, contracts awarded and so on.
This however is only possible later this year and even then, this right is only available to citizens. Non-citizens do not have this right. This right is also applicable for public entities based in Kenya such that you cannot enforce such a right against a non-Kenyan entity.
The law goes further to state that the information should be made accessible to persons with disabilities such as the blind and the deaf. This right is therefore of importance to persons who are interested in public governance of the institutions or those that deal with public bodies.
For example, one may want to know why a certain supply contract was awarded to a particular entity and this right allows this. There are certain limitations as to how far you can go in accessing information, for example military information is exempt.
If you want information, you first make a request in prescribed format to the public entity. This should be addressed to the information access officer who is supposed to be designated by each institution. The information sought should be given within 21 days.
The maximum it should take to get information from a public entity is 35 days.
Information access officers are yet to be appointed by public institutions. In the event that the public entity through its information access officer fails to provide the requisite information then the dispute can be referred to a commission which will then decide on the matter.
It is a criminal offence for a public entity to fail to provide information, an offence that could draw a fine and imprisonment of three years. There are however a number of reasons a public entity can give as reasons why it has not furnished the information.
In compliance with the law therefore, private institutions ought to amend their policies and systems to ensure compliance. A good way would be to designate information access officer and furthermore to train its customer care personnel on the provisions of the law.
However private institutions should also ensure that whenever information is requested the person seeking it is entitled to it, such that information on the hospital records of a third party other than the applicant cannot be granted. A guideline on the law may be given for public bodies.
The Act is still very new and we wait to see how public bodies will operationalise it. For the citizens, I recommend enforcing this right and holding public entities as well as service providers to accountability.
