Kenya New Constitution - Access to information - Government has to disclose information

Right to know: Former law society of Kenya chairman Okong’o O’Mogeni says immediately the new constitution is promulgated, Kenyans will have the right of access to information as
provided for in Article 35. It states that every Citizen has the right to access to information
held by the state and that provision according to him, gives Kenyans a right to demand from government disclosure of any information held by the State.

That makes the pending Freedom of Information Bill superfluous because nobody needs legislation to access government information.

And being a blanket right, it needs no legislation on how it is applied and there is no qualification on the type of information that can be accessed.

This means that all the reports that have been done by several commissions of inquiry can now be demanded by any Kenyans interested to establish what such reports contain. The provision is likely to counter the common mentality in the public service that there is information that is usually classified

-- Saturday Nation