Kenya draft law clips right of public to know

Access to information was one of the fundamental rights that MPs knocked out of the draft constitution in Naivasha.

Instead of having this right guaranteed in the constitution, the Parliamentary Select Committee resolved that MPs should legislate a law on access to information.

The move rescinds a clause that was hailed to bring to an end a culture of withholding information especially by the government on matters of national importance. The draft says of the Freedom of Expression: “Parliament shall, through legislation, provide for the right of access to information.”

A Freedom of Information Bill seeking to grant the public access to official information, has never come up for debate since it was drafted more than six years ago. The draft constitution prepared by the Committee of Experts recognised access to information as a basic right.

The new order would require the government to publish any information that is deemed important and affecting the country’s security and welfare.

The draft prepared by the experts indicated that every person had the right to the correction or deletion of untrue or misleading information that affected him/her. The draft also indicated that the State shall publish and publicise all important information affecting the nation.

New regulations

If the Naivasha amendment is passed, it will now be up to MPs to decide how much information the public can access through an Act of Parliament.

Meanwhile, 18 groups led by the Media Council of Kenya and the International Commission of Jurists have urged the CoE not to pass the amendment by MPs.

The organisations said the deletion of this clause would make it difficult for the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission to conclusively undertake its mandate.

In a paid up advert appearing elsewhere in this paper, the groups say that; “The PSC draft does not impose obligations on the part of anybody, not even the state, to provide information.”